Foxes on the Wind
by rulerofwind
Summary: After a life of loneliness Naruto starts to form new bonds and learn new things. What can come of it? Rated M to be safe. ON HIATUS (sorry, I'll try not to be gone for too long).
1. Chapter 1

Hey everyone! I'm deciding to start another story, but don't worry. I'm still doing Petals in the Wind. This is a Naruto/Temari pairing, and takes place before, during and after the Chuunin exams. So... tell me what you like (I'm trying a slower paced style of writing, with much more plot. Sorry if it seems too canon). Oh, and you know how much I like reviews :)

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><p>Chapter 1: Beginning<p>

It was a week before the Chuunin Exams. The streets of Konoha were bustling as always and filled with civilians buying groceries, and ninjas buying weapons for the upcoming event. Children danced around their mothers' feet, begging for her to buy them that cool-looking thing on the table, and they whined when they were firmly denied their goal. On another side of the village, a group of children were playing. The game was called, Ninja.

"You guys in position?" a light male voice whispered.

"Yeah." A slightly deeper voice answered.

"Let's do this." A high-pitched female voice said in agitation. The first one to speak held up his hand, showing three fingers. He silently counted down to zero with the digits and then they all jumped out, heading toward their target, their orange clad, blonde haired target. The "target" anticipated their movement and ducked out of the way, the deeper voiced boy flying past him.

"Udon!" the other male yelled in concern for his friend. He launched a kick at the "target", who caught it and easily tossed the boy aside.

"Konohamaru!" the girl shreiked, taking up a fighting stance.

"No Moegi! Give up, he's too strong!" Konohamaru ordered. Moegi sized up her opponent, deliberating on whether or not she had a chance of beating him. She couldn't think of a single way she could beat him, so she sighed before dropping her guard.

"I concede, Uncle Naruto." she said in defeat, going over to join her teammates. Naruto scratched the back of his head and chuckled.

"What's so funny?" Konohamaru asked, picking himself and Udon of the ground.

"Ya know, I'm glad you gave up Moegi. I honestly wasn't going to fight you. I wouldn't dare hit a girl. You actually could've won." he snickered. All three children sweatdropped before Moegi flattened Konohamaru with a punch.

"I could've won! Come one Kono, what kind of leader are you?"

"The kind who doesn't want a headache." Naruto sighed at the exchange. It reminded him of someone, someone close to him. The thought hit him and he nearly groaned in frustration. The children turned to look at their friend in worry.

"Ahh! I'm late! Sakura-chan is gonna kill me. This is bad, very bad." Naruto panicked, gripping his head and pacing back and forth.

"Hey Naruto, why do you put up with that pink haired demon anyways?" Konohamaru asked.

"Well Kono, you're too young to understand. But love makes you do some crazy things." Naruto dreamily sighed, causing the group to gag dramatically.

"Ew Naruto! Shut up!" they all screamed. Naruto smirked and turned away slightly, putting a hand up to wave.

"See ya later guys. Keep working on that wall climbing exercise." and like that, he was gone.

"Hmph. If he thinks we are gonna just do nothing while he gets beat, he's wrong. Konohamaru corps, move out!" Konohamaru ordered.

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><p>"God, where is he?" a frustrated pink haired girl demanded. She turned to look at the object of her affection, completely ignoring her and looking over the bridge they stood on, watching nature take it's course.<p>

"..."

"Sasuke-kun, you're so quiet today. Something wrong?" she asked, sliding up to him in an attempt to be seductive. She failed horribly, however, when a splinter wedged it's way into her arm. She winced at the pain and looked at it. She went into super panic mode when she saw the slender, almost thread width wood in her arm.

"Oh no! A splinter? Someone get it out! Sasuke-kun, help me! There's so many things we haven't done yet." she stopped spazzing as she went into her own little fantasy, but quickly went back to being the brat she was. Sasuke quickly grew tired of her and told her to come closer. Sakura immediately approached her love, only to have him grab her arm. He pulled her to him and pushed her away just a quickly. She realized the pain was gone, and that the splinter was now on the ground. She jumped on him and hugged him tightly.

"Thank you Sasuke-kun! You saved me!"

"It was only a splinter." he said, disinterested. He pushed her off of himself and went back to the water.

"Why so cold Sasuke-kun?" she asked sweetly, sickenly so.

"Because you're so annoying. Can I ask you a question?"

"Anything."

"Why did you decide to become a ninja if you crumble at the sight of a splinter. You do know that it's all real out there right? People get stabbed by kunai. Wounds are inflicted that make people wish they were merely splinters. If you want to continue to be this way, do eveyone a favor and quit." Sakura had to admit, that hurt a bit.

"B-But Sasuke-kun... Oh, I see now." she said mischieviously, latching onto her idol. "You told me to quit because you're afraid I'll get hurt out there. You're so sweet!" she squealed. Sasuke felt like faceplanting over and over again.

' How the hell did she mix my words into that? Someone save me from this girl.' he mentally groaned. His prayers were answered when a familiar figure approached them.

"Hey guys!" Naruto called out, running to them. As much as Sasuke hated the dobe, he had to admit he felt instantly relieved by his arrival. He pulled his arm away from Sakura and composed himself, putting on his emotionless mask. Sakura sighed agitatedly. She hated Naruto with a passion and took every second to remind him of that. She felt he took away from her time with Sasuke, and a crime of that scale was unforgivable.

"Hey Sakura-chan." Naruto greeted, slightly out of breath from his run. He expected a hello in return, but he instead received a punch in the face that knocked him flat on the ground. Konohamaru's team made it there just in time to see their idol be knocked down and immediately ran to him.

"Naruto! Are you okay?" Moegi demanded. She was relieved when Naruto sat up, tenderly holding his cheek where Sakura had attacked him.

"Jeez Sakura-chan, what did I do?" Naruto painfully asked. She cracked her knuckles and walked closer.

"Don't act dumb. Sasuke-kun and I were alone, and we were about to have a moment, until you came up."

"Well sorry. How was I supposed to know?" Naruto said, feeling a bit of anger inside of him. All he did was care about her, but she kept knocking him down, literally, to get to the damn Uchiha. It seemed like every girl he met did that.

"Dobe, there is nothing going on. Sakura, stop making his life a living hell. We're on a team now, like it or not. We need to at least try to get along. Stop being so childish." Sasuke snapped.

"You don't have to be shy Sasuke-kun. It's okay if he knows." Sakura said in a dreamy state, once again attaching to his arm. Naruto saw his eye twitch and knew he was telling the truth. He smirked at the Uchiha's predicament, elicting a growl from him.

"Anyways, where's Kakashi?" Naruto wondered, looking around for his sensei.

"You know he's always late Naruto, why even ask?" Sakura huffed. Naruto simply shrug his shoulders.

"So who knows why Kakashi wants to see us?" Naruto tried again.

"If we knew, we wouldn't be here dobe." Sasuke smirked.

"Shut the hell up Sasuke!"

"Naruto, don't you dare talk to Sasuke-kun like that!"

'Well that hurt. And with the kids watching too.'

"Naruto, why do you put up with her? It's obvious she's gaga over the Uchiha. You could do a lot better." Konohamaru pointed out, walking up.

"What did you say brat?" Sakura dangerously growled. Naruto didn't want to admit it, but Kono was right. Why waste his time when he could pursue another, who possibly returned his feelings.

"Ha, fat chance." Naruto told himself, low enough for Sasuke not to hear, but close enough for Sakura to hear. A dangerous aura surrounded her and she looked at Naruto with murder in her eyes.

"D-Did you just call me fat? You bastard!" she shreiked, jumping at Naruto, fist ready to knock some teeth out.

"N-No Sakura-chan! I didn't, honest!" but that wouldn't stop the angered girl. The fist connected, sending him flying and knocking him unconscious. Both groups heard a sigh and looked up above the bridge.

"Well, glad everyone's getting along." he said sarcastically.

"Well about time you got here Kakashi-sensei!"

"Yeah, just in time to see you knock the hell out of Naruto. You still act like a child Sakura. You're a kunoichi now, grow the hell up and stop beating on Naruto. He has done absolutely nothing to deserve the hell you put him through. You think it's justified because of your fairytale, but if you paid enough atrention to what people say, you'd realize that Sasuke here has no feelings for you whatsoever. In fact, you're a bother to him." Kakashi harshly said, going over to help Naruto up.

'Well that was harsh, but if it works, fine.' Sasuke said, studying the now devasted features of Sakura's face.

"Naruto, time to wake up. You can't sleep through this briefing." Kakashi said, shaking him awake. His eyes fluttered hefore he opened them.

"S-Sensei?" he asked, jumping up almost immediately. Kakashi smiled beneath his mask and nodded. "Thanks."

"No problem. Now about this mission briefing." Kakashi said loudly. Sasuke immediately walked over, Sakura sulked over. The children, knowing not to provoke the jounin, quickly ran off.

"In a week's time, the chunnin exams will begin. This is the test you will all need to take in order to become chuunin. I signed you all up for it this morning. This test is not to be taken lightly. They are looking for those who have what it takes to become a chuunin." Kakashi began.

"Well then nothing to worry about. There's no way I'll lose!" Nauto proudly proclaimed.

"Well Naruto, you just may win every battle in the exam, but that doesn't guarantee you'll become a chuunin. Brute strength is not what it takes to become an elite ninja. It takes knowledge, strength, and teamwork. You're not children anymore so I won't mince words. Your teamwork sucks. Naruto, you and Sasuke won't stop bickering and you won't stop trying to impress Sakura. Sasuke, same for you and you keep pushing your teammates away, thinking they are nuisances. Sakura, you won't stop beating on Naruto, even though he is only kind to you, and you won't stop fawning over Sasuke long enough to get some training in. If anything, you're holding them back. So work on it. I've already told you all enough about the exam, so I'll leave you to train. You know where to find me. It begins in a week, see ya." Kakashi said before flashing away.

"As if he could get my attention." Sakura huffed before walking away. Naruto could only assume she meant him, and it stung his heart. What would it take for her to see he was just as good as Sasuke? Head hung low, Naruto started off on his own way.

"... Naruto." Sasuke said, stopping Naruto in his tracks. He turned to see the Uchiha with an attempt at an understanding face. It was weird, but it made the blonde smile.

"Just a bit of advice. Give up on Sakura. She's way too bothersome to realize your feelings for her, and she'll never recognize them. Honestly, you could do a lot better." he said before immediately leaving. Naruto was shocked by the friendly display, almost brotherly, but he smiled.

"Duckass does care." he laughed to himself before also leaving. Naruto knew it was useless, but why couldn't his heart accept the truth? He had loved her for years, had put up with her consant beatings and verbal abuse. It was if they were dating and he was her bitch that recieved all of her frustrations. Thinking of it that way, he felt pretty damn stupid.

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><p>"I've been wasting all of my damn time for this? No more. Fuck it!" he screamed to the heavens. He was tired of the pain. There was already a bruise forming on his cheek.<p>

"Naruto, language. There are children out." Naruto spun around to face his father figure. Hiruzen Sarutobi stood tall, his hat hiding his greyed hair and his white robes flowing in the breeze.

"Old man ji!" Naruto gleefully yelled, tackling the man in a hug.

"Hello my boy. You seem to be troubled. Talk to me." he said in a tone that gave Naruto no other choice. There was no big deal really. He was able to talk to the man about anything and he had gotten some damn good advice over the years. Naruto sighed heavily before he started talking.

The elderly hokage listened intently to every word Naruto said. He felt great sympathy for the heartbroken boy, but he knew that Naruto was a very strongwilled person, and he'd get over her with time. He wanted to punish Sakura somehow for her ignorance but he was the Hokage, he had to control himself.

"...and that's about it." Naruto finished. He felt immensely better now that his troubles were off of his chest and by the smile in the old man's eyes he knew it as well.

"I'm sorry Naruto, I never wanted you to go through this kind of pain. But everyone must experience it as humans. You are a strong young man, you'll be okay. I just know it." Hiruzen kindly said, placing a hand on Naruto's shoulder. If Hiruzen knew one thing about the hyperactive ninja, it was that Naruto wasn't a fan of open affection, even though it was what he desperately needed. Naruto smiled brightly and hugged his leader once more.

"I gotta go train old man. Chuunin exams and all." Naruto said, beginning to walk away.

"Okay then, goodbye Naruto. Stop by before you go home, I'll have some ramen waiting on you." Naruto stopped mid-stride and turned, a smile brighter than before, if that was even possible, on his face.

"Thanks!" he yelled, running off. The faster he finished, the sooner he could go home and sit down with a hot bowl of Ichiraku ramen. The very idea made his mouth water with anticipation.

Naruto was weaving the handsigns before he had even reached the training grounds, a group of 10 clones encircling him and running with him.

"So, what's the plan boss?" the clone closest to Naruto asked.

"Hmm, how about a group of three work on my chakra control. Ya know, do some tree climbing and walking on water. Another group of three work on my speed. Race through the trees or something. The last group of three work on my wind-style jutsus." Naruto instructed, the clones already forming their groups.

"What about me boss?" the same clone asked.

"You, you'll be my sparring partner. Gotta keep my fighting skills up. Everyone dispel in two hours. Go!" and with that, it was only Naruto and his clone. Naruto had picked up the idea of using clones to increase training progress in his studies. He wasn't the dumb dobe everyone made him out to be. He only pretended to be like that to try and fit in. Not being socialized properly, he had to take a wild guess on how to interact with others, leading to how he was. Naruto faced his clone and dipped down into a fighing stance, much like a fox. He had learned his body behaved like one thanks to his dear "friend" Kyuubi, and used it to his advantage. He could move as swiftly and powerfully as a fox, smell like a fox, and sometimes his eyes even looked like a fox's. His clone mimicked the movement, and all was quiet. The two must have stood there for about an hour, waiting for someone to make a move. Naruto had no intention of his training taking that kind of turn, but this would help him learn patience. So he went with it, as he had always been a go-with-the-flow guy. But no matter how hard he tried, Naruto would eventually lose patience.

"Bring it on boss." that one taunt was all he needed.

"Okay, but you asked for it." Naruto launched forward at an incredible speed, having used his legs to push off the ground. He spun in midair, bringing his foot down on his clone. The clone however, had anticipated the move and ducked out of the way. It then aimed a kick at Naruto's side and it connected.

"Ya gotta do better than that boss! You're forgetting that I'm you. I know all of your techniques and fighting styles. Surprise me." the clone snickered. Naruto stopped and thought for a few seconds, a grin spreading across his face with a thought.

"Alright then. Let's see just how well you know yourself." Naruto rushed at his clone head-on.

"A frontal attack? That wouldn't work on you." the clone prepared to dodge and attack. Naruto threw a punch, as expected, and the clone dodged. The clone brought his elbow up and brought it down on Naruto's back, knocking him to the ground. His celebration was cut short when Naruto disappeared.

"A clone? But when?" the clone asked, frantically looking around for his creator.

"Right here." Naruto sang before punching the clone in the face, knocking him out. 'I win! I gotta learn some more fighting techniques. But whatever, I got a month to work with.' Naruto looked up at the sky and groaned. "Man, I still have an entire hour before the old man will have my ramen, and I have nothing to do!" sighing heavily, Naruto sat down under a tree and leaned back, deciding to get in a little nap.

"Jeez, where the hell are our apartments?" a male voice demanded in the distance. Naruto sat up immediately, not having recognized that voice before.

"Would you shut your damn complaining for a minute Kankuro? You've been complaining since we got here." a female voice scolded.

"Temari's right Kankuro. Must you act like a child all of the time?" a deeper male voice agreed.

"Whatever. Well do you know where the apartments are dear sister? How about you sensei? I don't suppose you do Gaara? How about it little bro?"

"... Actually, I do. It's that way. Your senses of direction need work." a soft, rapsyish voice answered.

"Y-Yes Gaara." Naruto was starting to get an idea of this team. It was a four man cell with two guys: Kankuro and Gaara, and one girl: Temari, who were all siblings, and their sensei was a man named Baki. And it seemed that at least Kankuro was terrified of his little brother. However, the fact was that their names weren't common to Konoha, they sounded like names that ninja of Suna would use. But why would Suna ninja be here?

'Maybe it's for the chuunin exams. Oh well, if something happens, I'll have names to report.' Naruto sighed, laying back down.

An hour later when his clones dispelled, Naruto gave himself a few minutes to go over the information now in his head then practically ran to the Hokage's tower. The old man stood outside, waiting for him.

"Old man!" Naruto yelled as he ran up.

"There you are Naruto. As promised, here is your ramen." he said, handing Naruto a large bundle of Ichiraku ramen, the equivalent of 10 bowls. Naruto eyes lit up like stars and he felt like screaming for joy.

"Thanks jiji. Why are there foreign ninja here in the village?" Naruto couldn't help but ask. It seemed that everything he was thinking of had a way of escaping in front of the hokage.

"For the chuunin exams of course. Genin come from many lands to compete. It's nothing to worry about. Now you go home and get some rest. You have much training ahead of you."

"Okay then, see ya!" Naruto traveled along the rooftops to his apartment, immediately going in and locking the door. Ripping open the plastic, Naruto grabbed the bowl inside and filled it to the rim. He grabbed the chopsticks and dove in.

"Itadakimasu!" he said, mouth full of noodles. Little did the jinchuuriki know, the next few days would be interesting, very interesting.

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><p>So... Like it? Hate it? Let me know, but be nice. I can take negative comments, but only in the form of constructive criticism (Don't just say, "this sucks!" tell me what you don't like, and how I can improve).<p> 


	2. Chapter 2

This story was written purely for entertainment purposes, nothing else. Not trying to sell anything, please don't sue me...

Hey everyone, another chapter ready to be read. I'm so happy everyone is enjoying this, and I just really hope I'll continue to have good chapters. I'd also like to thank the reviewers for the first chapter: thisisCmpunk, alchemists19 (I read the first chapter of Lieutenants Meet Ninja, and I love it so much! :)), Umbra8191, and The-lazy-bum. You all are awesome! But everyone who favorited this is also an example of awesome! Okay... I'll shut up now and move on.

(**A/N:** Here's a little key so no one gets confused.

"Hi" - normal conversation

'Hi' - thought

"Hi" - demon talking

'Hi" - conversation with demon, like Naruto talking to Kyuubi)

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><p>Chapter 2: Meeting<p>

The next morning found the young jinchuuriki wolfing (or... foxing...?) down another helping of the ramen. After his training yesterday, Naruto was surprised to find he could only eat 4 bowls. That meant he had 6 more bowls of heaven to take care of. Slurping the broth down, loving it's warmth against his throat, he stood up and got ready for the day. Today he was going to stock up on some items and then train with Sasuke. Truth be told, Naruto had no intention of training with the duckass and showing him his techniques. That would put him at a disadvantage in the exams. But Kakashi rudely woke him up to tell him that at noon he was to train with Sasuke. Something about strengthening the bonds between teammates or some bullshit like that. So he was now stuck figuring out how much power he should show off.

_'Ugh, why me?'_

_**'Show him our power, why hold back? If we crush him what can he do?'**_

_**'You know damn well I can't do that Kyuu. Even I know that if I do that the council will find out and punish me for harming their precious Uchiha.'**_ and it was true. The council used nearly every measure the village had to offer in order to protect the only remaining heir, and hurting him would put Naruto in some deep shit. Well, guess he'd have to do what's gotten him to this point: wing it. He worked excellently under pressure.

_**'Hn... One day, when I am finally free from this prison, I will destroy this village.'**_

_**'Try me. The only ones here I give a damn about are the old man, Kakashi-sensei, and the kids. Possibly the duckass. I couldn't care less what happens to anyone else.'**_

_**'That's my kit. You're becoming more like me every day.'**_ the fox snickered, its voice fading to the back of Naruto's head. Deciding to ignore that last comment, Naruto looked around to make sure he wasn't forgetting anything.

"Well, time to get the day started." Locking the door, Naruto looked around at the streets below him, already busy with people. He often wondered if they ever even slept. He quickly made his way into the mess that was the street and headed toward the weapon shop. Surprisingly the owner of the shop let him come in and buy things, but only before everyone else showed up. And even then, he had to always leave through the back door. He'd learned to live with it and he understood. He didn't want to compromise someone's business for someone as poor as he was. The owner was already waiting for him when he got there, and quickly pushed him into the building. Naruto went over and grabbed the usual: about 10 horrible quality iron/granite kunai and shuriken. They were big and bulky, but that's what he could afford. He quickly paid for it and rushed out the back as customers started pouring in. He secured the items in his weapon holsters and sighed.

_'Time to meet up with duckass.'_ Naruto thought, making his way back into the street filled with people who hated him. Even though the attacks on him dwindled to nothing over the years, that didn't stop people from giving him horrible looks and keeping their children as far away from him as possible. But then again, Naruto stopped giving a rat's ass about five years ago when he was 7, the day before the old man began to specifically look after him.

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><p><em>Naruto backed up into a wall, and wished he could phase through it. He looked on with horror as the group of people turned into the dark alley, torches glowing brilliantly in the night sky. Naruto honestly didn't know what he did wrong. The lady who normally sneaked him food suddenly stopped, and began acting like he didn't exist when he'd try to talk to her. He was hungry, and he resorted to taking a loaf of bread from a street vendor. It was only a loaf of bread for a starving child right? No, to the man it was hard earned product stolen by a demon. He still remembers the things he shouted when the vendor noticed Naruto took it.<em>

_"The devil has come for me! Did you all not see it? The demon child took my products, he means to put me out of business so that his master may come and claim my life for evil! Well I won't go you devil, I won't go! I shall kill your disciple, and then I shall be praised as the savior of Konoha!" Naruto remembered that, and the simultaneous shout for joy of every single person gathered there. He closed his eyes as the crowd closed in on him._

_'I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die.'_

**_'Kit, you wanna survive?'_**

**_'W-who is that?'_**

**_'Let's just say... I'm a friend. Do you want to survive?'_**

**_'Y-yeah...'_**

**_'Well, trust me. Let your anger out, that's the only way for you to survive. Let my power flow through your body and fight.'_**

**_'But, how can I win?'_**

**_'Just do it.'_**

_Naruto tried his hardest to feel angry, but fear kept overcrowding his mind._

_**'Turn that fear into anger! Why do you have to be scared? What have you done to deserve this? Those villagers, they wouldn't give a damn if you died today. Hell, they'd probably even dance and piss on your grave.'** That fact stung Naruto. Whatever was talking to him was right. Why him? Always him. The rage flowed and Naruto felt a warm feeling in his stomach. As the feeling grew, Naruto's awareness of the area decreased._

_The next thing he knew, he was standing in the middle of a circle of bodies. His immediate reaction was to panic. What had he done?_

_"Did I, kill them?"_

_**'No kit, they're only unconscious. Now get out of here before someone sees this.'** Naruto immediately obeyed and ran off._

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><p><em><strong>'Kami, where would I be without you Kyuu?'<strong>_

_**'Dead in an alleyway, that's what.'**_

_**'You're probably right.'**_ As Naruto came up to the training field, he heard the distinct grunts and felt the small flares of chakra that told him that Sasuke was already training.

_'He started without me?'_ Naruto internally groaned, running to catch up.

"Oi, duckass! We're supposed to be training together!" Naruto called the second he had Sasuke, who was assaulting a tree with his punches and kicks, in his sights. Sasuke turned uninterestedly toward Naruto, lowering his hands from the offensive position they were in.

"'Bout time Dobe. I was about to think you'd be a no-show. Sleep in again?" He teased.

"So what? I'm here, so let's just train." Naruto sighed, taking a basic academy stance.

"Are you underestimating me? That academy knowledge would never be enough to defeat me." The rivals squared off against each other before Sasuke lost patience and charged at Naruto. Naruto wove some handsigns too fast for Sasuke to track, then charged as well. Sasuke threw a punch, which was dodged just in time, causing the fist to brush past Naruto's neck. Reacting quickly to the failed attempt, Sasuke quickly pulled his fist back and swept his foot along the ground under Naruto, trying to knock him down. Naruto jumped over it and brought his left leg up to kick Sasuke in the face, but it was caught as well before being thrown to the side. The Uchiha followed closely and delivered many punches into the blonde's stomach, finishing with an elbow to the gut to knock him to the ground. Naruto slowly got back up, spitting out the blood that pooled in his mouth and dashed for Sasuke. He wove the handsigns for shadow clones and five clones joined him.

"What's the plan boss?"

"You know what it is." Naruto answered simply.

"I see. Well let's go guys!" The clones ran ahead of Naruto as Sasuke activated his Sharingan and prepared to defend. Perfect. Naruto quickly jumped behind a clone and ran so that to Sasuke it looked as if there were only five Narutos here. As planned, the Uchiha ran past the clones and lunged at the one that Naruto had jumped behind. The clone smirked at Sasuke's face as it disappeared, to reveal no Naruto. Naruto lunged at Sasuke from behind with a kunai, prepared to slash his rival across the back. The second before impact Sasuke turned just enough for Naruto to miss, then kicked him away. Naruto uprighted himself before landing, then glared at his opponent.

"The shadow switch technique missed? How?"

"Hmph, you may have tricked me Naruto, but I can read you like a book. Use your head during battle, not just brute strength and that loud mouth of yours."

"Shut up Sasuke. Stop acting like you know every damn thing. You don't know half of what I can do." Naruto halfway growled, the whisker-like marks on his cheeks darkening and becoming more defined.

_**'That's it kit. Show him, show them all what we can do.'**_

_**'N-no, I can't do that Kyuu. We'd probably kill him and like I said, I don't want that shit on my hands.'**_

"Naruto! Uncle Naruto!" Naruto's eyes snapped open to see Konohamaru looking at him quizzically from across the field.

"Kono? What are you doing here?"

"You said you'd play with us today, and we've been waiting an hour." the child pouted.

"Aww Kono, I'm sorry. But I'm training right now."

"I don't care! You made a promise yesterday and you're gonna keep it!"

"Okay okay! Jeez. Hey duckass, we gotta cut this short okay? We'll finish later."

"You've got to be kidding me. Am I the only one in this team taking this seriously?' Sasuke groaned, throwing his hands up into the air. 'Sakura won't stop being useless. You want to go play ninja. You know what? Go. Go on; go pretend to be what you already are. But you two better not hold me back next week." Naruto sighed and moved to say something, but the Konohamaru Corps would wait no longer and they dragged their leader away.

_'Stupid dobe. Doesn't he see from our fight that he needs to get stronger? And what was with that small flare of chakra. It felt... dangerous. Oh well... Considering what he's like, there's probably nothing to worry about. I will win, losing is not an option.'_

"Sasuke-kun!"

_'Oh Kami, how did she find me? I thought only Kakashi and the dobe were the only others who knew.'_

"It took me forever to find you! Good thing I felt your chakra calling to me. What were you doing here?"

"Training with the dobe."

"It's kinda early, did you win already? I bet you did, that idiot has no fighting abilities."

'Yeah, you're one to talk.' "He left to go play with those kids."

"What?" Sakura shrieked. "He left you to go play with some kids? Oh, I'm gonna find him and clobber him." and like that she was already halfway down the path.

_'If only she put as much effort into her training.'_ Sasuke sighed, walking away.

Naruto and the kids had already begun their game. Naruto hid, and it was the kids' job to track him using whatever methods. His chakra, broken branches, fallen leaves, whatever. Naruto chose a bushy tree on the side of a trail and rested on a high up branch.

"Naruto, where are you?" a dangerous voice demanded not too far away. Naruto reflexively gulped.

_**'Sakura?'**_

_**'Apparently she isn't too keen on you skipping out on her Uchiha.'**_

_**'Great...'**_

"Naruto!" the voice was closer this time. Naruto needed to get away from here. He jumped down and the kids immediately ran to him.

"We're supposed to find you baka." Konohamaru sighed, earning himself a whack on the head.

"What's wrong Naru?" Moegi asked, pulling her hand back.

"Pink alert." the kids' faces drained. They knew the wrath of the pink haired girl and grew to hate her for it. But they still knew better than to provoke her.

"W-what do we do?" Konohamaru asked.

"Okay, if we move quietly, we could get away." Naruto said, beginning to tiptoe away. He collided with something soft, and judging by the horrified gasps of the kids Naruto knew what it was, or rather, who.

"S-sakura. Hi there." Naruto said, backing up.

"Naruto,' she growled 'first you ditch Sasuke of all people, to play with some brats, and then you have the nerve to put your head on my breast? You are a sick pervert." she said, cracking her knuckles.

"Kono, Moegi, Udon. Run." Naruto whispered.

"What Uncle Naruto?" Konohamaru asked.

"RUN!" Naruto screamed, bolting for the kids. He grabbed Moegi and Udon and made sure Konohamaru was following and they ran off, Sakura following closely. She chased them through half of the village while shouting obscenities and knocking down anyone who got in her way, even poor Shino who was simply admiring some bugs, and onto a path close to the entrance of the village.

"You're. Gonna. Pay." she breathed, slightly out of breath, stepping closer to them. They were trapped in a corner where two fence posts met to form a bend in the path. Naruto was reminded of his childhood and his anger began to show. He put Moegi and Udon down and moved all the kids behind him.

"What the hell did I ever do to you huh? Can you tell me that? Is it that you think I take away your Sasuke fantasy time? Well newsflash Sakura, we're a damn team! I'm gonna be working and training with Sasuke all the time, whether we like it or not! And it will be mostly me training with him until you step up your game and actually try to be a kunoichi. Who wants to train with the dead weight of the team? Sure as hell isn't me or Sasuke. And about him. Why can't you Kami forsaken fangirls get it through your thick heads that he isn't interested in the least of any one of you? Most of you are weaklings anyways. The women of the Uchiha clan were strong and powerful. Why would he want to compromise that trait for one of you? He wouldn't. So it's time for you to grow up and start acting like a ninja, or you'd be better off being a nurse or something else." Naruto spat. The entire time he wanted to stop the words, but they kept flowing. He was tired of it, and he snapped. He looked at the pure shock on Sakura's face before feeling the guilt settle in.

"S-sakura, I didn't mean to-"

"Naruto you bastard!" she screamed in a new fury. "You think you can tell me how to live my life, and how to treat someone I love? Ha, how would you know about any of that? You don't have parents or anyone close like family, and no one likes you!"

_'Damn, that hurt.'_  
>"Well, I have the third-" she cut him off with a horrid laugh.<p>

"Don't make me laugh! He's like a father to us all! It doesn't count."

"Shut up you bitch! Naruto is a good guy and doesn't deserve your fat head destroying his self esteem!" Konohamaru defended, standing beside Naruto. Moegi and Udon joined him and agreed.

"What?" she immediately dashed for Konohamaru, who ran off further down the path. He was fast, but she was faster and quickly gained up on him. If it weren't for Konohamaru colliding with something and falling down, Sakura would've beaten him to a bloody pulp. But she was too busy staring at the man before her. Not much could be said about him. He wore a grayish cat suit and purple makeup. Naruto, Moegi and Udon caught up and they too were interested in what was about to unfold.

"Ah jeez kid, you just gonna bump into me like that and not even say sorry?" the man asked.

"Well you should've moved." Konohamaru grumbled.

"What was that kid?" he picked up Konohamaru by the front of his shirt and held him at eye level. "Ya know, I really hate brats like you." he said, bringing back a fist.

"Kankuro, you know you'll get in trouble if Baki finds out. Or even worse, Gaara." a female warned from behind him. For the first time, the entire group noticed the girl standing close behind. Naruto had to do a double take. She was absolutely beautiful. Her hair was blonde, like his, only a bit sandier. And it was up in four ponytails, giving her an exotic look. Her body was firm and slender, like an ideal kunoichi. The clothes she wore showed off some cleavage of what Naruto guessed to be C or D cup breasts: a blouse that went across her upper arms, and fishnet that covered from her cleavage up to a bit under her neck. She also wore a skirt that stopped a couple of inches above the knees, and two well placed bands of fishnet. One on her left lower leg, the other on her right upper leg. There were these kinds of women outside the village? Hell, he wouldn't have spent all this time chasing after Sakura if he'd known that.

"Is that a fact? Guess I'll have to make it quick then. Jeez, stop being such a buzzkill Temari." Kankuro sighed.

_'So, her name is Temari.'_

"Whatever, but I'm not part of this. And I wouldn't have to be a buzzkill if I didn't have to constantly stop my little brother from doing stupid things, now would I?" Temari fired back. She didn't take anyone's shit either. Good.

"Bitch."

"What the hell did you just say? Kankuro, do not make me kill you before the exams."

Rolling his eyes, Kankuro turned back to his task at hand.

"Do something Naruto, he's gonna hurt him." Sakura finally said.

"When you were about to hurt him yourself? You're quite the hypocrite." Naruto snapped. Sakura thought about retaliating, but fell silent. Naruto walked up to Kankuro and he looked down at the blonde.

"What do you want brat? You wanna be next?"

"No, but I'd appreciate it if you'd return my friend. If not-"

"Then what? What will you do pipsqueak?" Kankuro asked. Naruto pulled out a kunai and lunged at the man. He moved out of the way, dropping Konohamaru in the process. The boy quickly scrambled back to his team. Naruto wove a few handsigns before lunging again. Kankuro finally took out his own kunai and aimed for Naruto's throat. The attack was dodged and countered with a kick to the arm. Kankuro almost lost his grip on the knife, but regained it in time. He rushed forward and threw his weight into slashing through Naruto. The blade connected and sliced Naruto in half. He smirked at his victory, until Naruto disappeared. Kankuro frantically looked around.

"Where the hell is he?"

"Kankuro above!" Temari cried out. Kankuro looked up to see Naruto heading straight for him.

Naruto had this in the bag. All he had to do was land a good fist on the prick and it would be over. But nothing is ever that easy. A strong wind blew Naruto away and into a tree.

_'What the hell?'_

"Pay more attention Kankuro, I won't save you too many times." Temari said, placing her fan back into its holster on her back

"Shut up! I didn't need you that time!"

"Yeah, that's why you were paralyzed in surprise."

_**'So it was her. She seems to have wind manipulation on her side.'**_

_**'So it seems. Now get up.'**_ Naruto stood up and looked at Temari.

"Hello Temari. My name is Naruto Uzumaki, please remember it. You've got to be the strongest woman I've ever met. Most of the girls in this village are weak." Naruto grinned, jumping down from the tree. Temari was shocked by the compliment and looked away, a slight blush on her cheek.

_'Did he just... compliment me? No one's ever done that before.'_ and it was true. Being the oldest child of the Kazekage, she was trained mercilessly and for many hours every day, even in the sweltering heat of noon. So to have this guy she didn't even know tell her she obviously trained well, pleased her.

"Thank you, no one has said that to me before." she said gently.

"Oh really? Even for a beautiful woman like you? Your strength should be admired every day." Naruto returned, causing the blush to grow deeper.

_'He sure is laying on the charm thick there.'_ she mentally smirked.

"Well then, Naruto Uzumaki. I'll remember you. Let's go Kankuro." Temari turned away and began walking.

"But Temari! I'm not done with these brats yet!" Kankuro whined. When Temari ignored him he grew frustrated and ran toward Konohamaru, lifting him into the air once again and shoving Moegi and Udon back. He pulled back his fist and thrust it forward. Konohamaru yelped and closed his eyes, but the hit never came. Suddenly he found himself on the ground, and looked up to see Kankuro holding his wrist tenderly.

"Ow, you brat!" Kankuro hissed. Temari stopped and turned around, watching her brother trying to find the sneak attacker.

"Up here." every head turned to the tree on the side of the road. Sitting in said tree was Sasuke.

"Sasuke-kun! You've come to save us!" Sakura squealed, causing everyone to sweatdrop.

"You! How dare you attack me?"

"It was just a pebble, get over it." Sasuke huffed. Kankuro growled and reached behind him.

"You're going to use that?" Temari asked.

"Yeah, it'll be real quick sis." Kankuro answered. Temari sighed and stood down. She knew better than to mess with a pissed off Kankuro. Kankuro attached chakra threads to the bundle on his back and jerked his hand forward. The bundle began to come undone, until a single word froze him in place.

"Stop." Kankuro immediately dropped his hand and stood straight. Temari looked up in the tree and saw her baby brother standing upside down on a branch.

"H-hey Gaara." Kankuro whimpered.

"Told you." Temari teased. Gaara disappeared in a cloud of sand and reappeared in front of Kankuro.

"Kankuro, must you act like a child wherever we go? Don't make me kill you." Gaara said coldly. Kankuro gulped and nodded.

"S-sorry Gaara. But to be fair, they started it." Gaara completely ignored that statement and turned to the leaf residents.

"I apologize for my brother's insolence. He will not bother you again. Let's go Temari. Baki wants to see you." he said, walking to his sister. The siblings began to walk away.

"Wait, what's your name?" Sasuke asked. They all stopped and turned around.

"Gaara. Gaara of the desert." he answered. Naruto caught Temari's eye and smiled. She returned a small smile before walking away with her brothers.

"What does Baki want?" Temari asked in a slightly serious tone. Baki only called for her if it was of major importance.

"He wouldn't tell me. He's lucky I didn't kill him for making me come get you two."

"Oh well. See anything interesting in the village?" Temari asked, slinging an arm around Gaara's shoulders. Kankuro flinched. He still didn't understand, no matter how many times she tried to explain, how she could be so... close and open with the jinchuuriki and not get killed.

* * *

><p><em>"He says I remind him of how he thinks mom would be like. So he doesn't mind my affection. You look like dad, so you're shit out of luck in that department."<em>

_"Like I'd want to be that close to him anyways. Temari, just don't get yourself killed. He's a dem-" Kankuro started before finding himself on the floor. He held his aching cheek, looking up into the angry eyes of his sister._

_"A demon? Were you just about to call Gaara a demon? Kami Kankuro. Maybe that's why he seems so crazy. Because no one gives him a chance. It's not his fault he's the way he is. He tries, but with the way everyone treats him, I don't blame him for wanting to kill everyone in sight. But I'm not gonna be one of those people. I'm tired of it. He's my little brother, and I'm his older sister. And by damn if it costs me my life, I will act like the family he deserves."_

_"But, he's my brother too-"_

_"Then for Kami's sake Kankuro act like it!" she said, stomping off. Since then, Kankuro has never even almost called Gaara a demon. However, his relationship with his brother hadn't gotten any better. It seemed as if it actually got worse._

_'I want to be a family, but we're just so fucked up. After all this crap is over, I swear I'll try harder.'_

* * *

><p>"Temari, earth to Temari! Hey!" Kankuro shouted, knocking Temari out of her thoughts.<p>

"What the hell do you want?"

"What was up with you back there? 'Thank you, no one's ever said that to me before.' You already falling for the enemy?" Kankuro teased, earning himself a punch in the gut. In that split second, Temari had removed her arm from Gaara and attacked. She leaned down to his ear.

"Shut the hell up Kankuro. I had to show them what my power is because of you.' She growled, digging her fist in deeper. 'So I had to act a bit weak and more girly than normal so they don't overestimate me. Got it?" she said, removing her hand. Kankuro nodded and didn't say another word all the way back to their rooms.

'How I wish that were the case, but that Naruto is quite interesting.'

* * *

><p>"I think this will be a very interesting exam." Sasuke smirked once they were gone.<p>

"Interesting? They all look like bad news, especially that Gaara! We should stay away from them." Sakura worriedly pointed out.

"Sakura, shut up." Naruto and Sasuke said before walking away, leaving Sakura to go home alone. The Kono corps went home, albeit a bit paranoid, jumping at every loud noise.

"So, that Suna girl? Good choice dobe. A lot better than Sakura."

"Shut the hell up baka. Sure, she's beautiful and strong, but what are the chances of her liking me?"

"Well, I can tell you one thing. The entire time, her eyes were glued to you. She didn't once look at me for over five seconds, which is a first. I'm pretty sure she has some feelings. You just have to get to know her better and get stronger." Naruto was momentarily shocked by the brotherly advice, yet again.

"Wow, you're acting so brotherly. What's up with that?" Naruto teased.

"I-I don't care! We're on a team, and if you screw up and get a broken heart it'd slow me down. I can't let that happen." Sasuke defended.

"Aww, you do care." Naruto sighed, running off to avoid a fireball on his ass.

_'Why am I helping that dobe? Do I care?'_

_'You know you do. Face it, he's like a brother to you isn't he? If not, he's your best friend and rival.'_ the voice in the back of his head snickered.

_'Ugh. Whatever...'_

* * *

><p>Naruto raced down the streets of the village, eager to get home and rest so he could train with Sasuke early tomorrow, and possibly run into Temari. However his thoughts turned him down the wrong road and he found himself in front of the gates of an obviously abandoned home. The lawn was cut the windows were clean and there was no mold or foliage growing up the sides of the house. But there was no trace of a chakra signature. Being the curious person he was he went closer to inspect. There was an inscription on the gate that read<p>

_'No matter how powerful you are, fighting with no reason is pure savagery.'_ -Kushina Uzumaki.

Naruto did a double take on the name.

"U-Uzumaki?" he whispered in disbelief, stumbling back. Several ANBU landed in front of him, blocking his view.

"Uzumaki Naruto, you are to leave immediately. This area is off limits to all in the village."

"Bullshit! I'm not going anywhere! There is a name inscribed on that gate, Kushina Uzumaki? Is it coincidence that we have the same last name, or is someone not telling me something?" Naruto demanded. The ANBU remained silent, and Naruto took it as a confirmation of his suspicions. "I'm going to see the old man."

"The Hokage is very busy right now, he isn't taking any visitors."

"Oh, he'll see me alright. We have a lot to talk about. If you want to stop me, try it." Naruto dangerously growled before running off.

"Should we give pursuit?"

"No, let him go. It's about time he knows."

**_'What the hell is going on here?'_**

**_'The hell if I know kit. Just get to the old man so we can figure something out.'_**  
><strong>'That damn old fool! You'd think he'd try harder to conceal the place from Naruto. If only this damn tongue seal wasn't on me...'<strong>

Naruto arrived at the Hokage's mansion and leaped up to the top floor. There he found the Hokage sitting at his desk, busy filling out sheet after sheet of paperwork.

"Hello Naruto. Come in." Naruto should've known. He'd never been able to sneak up on the veteran ninja.

"Don't 'Hello Naruto' me you old fart." Naruto snapped, jumping into the room. "What the hell is up with that building with Kushina Uzumaki's name inscribed on the gate? What the hell aren't you telling me?" Naruto screamed.

Hiruzen hadn't expected this anytime soon. He wanted Naruto to find out, but only when he was mature enough to handle it.

_'Those ANBU officers apparently failed to do their job.'_

"Naruto, sit down. Now, what I'm going to tell you may shock and anger you, but you must understand. I only did this as a request from your father. Now, you do know of the Kyuubi's attack on Konoha?"

"Yeah. I heard that it attacked and killed a lot of people and it wasn't going to stop until the fourth hokage sacrificed his life and sealed the fox into a baby. Me to be exact."

"Yes Naruto. But, that baby was the fourth's son. The fourth Hokage was your father, and Kushina Uzumaki was your mother." Naruto was silent for a long while before his eyes widened.

"You mean the fourth was... my father. And that house is... mine?"

"In a matter of speaking, yes."

"What the hell? Why couldn't you have told me sooner? You told me not to be mad, but how could I not be? Do you know how much crap I've gone through in my life already? Being afraid to walk in the streets, fearing you'll be attacked again, or even being too afraid to sleep! Having a status like that would've put me so high in the village, maybe everyone wouldn't hate me. And what about-"

"Naruto, be quiet!" Sarutobi commanded in a tone that immediately shut Naruto up. "Naruto, this is what I meant. You weren't supposed to find out because what would you do if you had known? Would you have gone through life easily and without a single struggle? You say you want to be Hokage? Only a ninja who has suffered and gotten stronger through his own efforts deserves to lead this village. If you'd known, you'd have no chance of fulfilling your dream. Believe me, I wanted so badly to tell you, but after your father explained everything to me I saw his point. But he did leave you so much to help you on your journey. In the house there are boxes of scrolls in your parent's bedroom, half of them blue, half of them red. The blue scrolls are your fathers. They contain all of his techniques and steps on how to learn them. Perhaps Kakashi can help you, seeing as your father was his sensei. The red scrolls are your mothers. There is a personal journal of her training, scrolls on her wind based techniques, and scrolls on the pure chakra manipulation of the Uzumaki clan. The Uzumaki clan was a powerful clan in the land of waves during its height, and one of our greatest allies. The country no longer exists due to war and famine, but when it did, your clan had abilities unmatched by any other. Pure chakra manipulation is a very useful power to have. You can sense evil in others and attempt to snuff it out, you can learn to control the Kyuubi more efficiently, and it's so powerful your mother once took out an entire 100 man army alone just by merely feeding her chakra into the ground. I should also add one more fact. The Uzumaki clan has been the containing house for the Kyuubi for many generations. Yes, your mother was the previous jinchuuriki." Naruto sat there quietly, absorbing all the information he was being given. He still couldn't believe he was the son of the fourth, the hero of Konoha.

"I see... Can I go get those scrolls then?"

"Yes. Since you know you will of course be allowed to explore the grounds. Only a member of the Uzumaki clan or the Namikaze can gain entry. Simply feed your chakra into the center of the gate where there is an imprint of a swirl pattern, similar to what is on the back of our chuunin and jonin uniforms, and it will open."

"That simple?"

"That simple."

"I guess... I can see your point. Better late than never I guess. Thanks old man." Naruto said, standing up.

"Anytime Naruto. Would you like some more ramen?"

"No, not today. I'm gonna be busy tonight. Besides, you've taken care of me since I was attacked that day. You've done enough."

"That's because you're like my own. And don't let anyone tell you different. Even though I have close bonds with everyone in the village, I have a special bond with you and you alone my boy. Now go, claim your heritage." Naruto's flashed his winning smile, definitely happier than before and left.

_'Ah, that boy has some challenges ahead of him, but he'll make it. Minato, Kushina, watch over your boy.'_


	3. Chapter 3

:O I am so happy that everyone likes this story so much! I keep looking at the hits and smiling to myself. Over 3,000 hits! I love you all. Okay, so here's the next chapter. Hopefully it's as good as the first two

I realized that my beginning A/N in the last chapter was an epic fail, so I'm gonna try again.

"Hi" - normal conversation

_'Hi'_ - thought

**"Hi"** - demon talking

**_''Hi"_** - conversation with demon, like Naruto talking t Kyuubi)

Reviews: I never expected to get this many reviews in such a short time, so I'm just gonna give a big shoutout to all my reviewers: Insomniac-Gaara4488, Tristan76 , Vash Maverick 88 , Killjoy3000 , The-lazy-bum , Umbra8191 , dgenxman , and thisisCMpunk . Reviews make me oh so happy Okay, I'll shutup now so you can read.

* * *

><p>Chapter 3: Training<p>

Naruto immediately ran back to the Namikaze estate where the ANBU stood.

"Back already?"

"Yeah. The old man told me this place is rightfully mine, and that there are things in there I can go get."

"Really? And what proof do you have?"

"He isn't lying." Kakashi said, jumping down from a tree.

"Sensei, how long have you been here?" Naruto questioned.

"Oh, for about the entire time. Since you talked to the hokage I suppose I should tell you your father was my sensei. I come here often to think and relax. If these damn ANBU weren't here, it'd be the perfect spot."

"The old man told me I could go in and get the things they left for my training so you can help me." Naruto said with pure hope. Kakashi chuckled so Naruto took it as a good sign.

"So I get to help raise another Minato? Ok then, I'll take you on Naruto. Be at the training field at 8:00 sharp tomorrow morning."

"But sensei, what about my training with Sasuke?"

"He'll be fine by himself for awhile." Kakashi said, disappearing in a puff of smoke. Naruto shrugged and walked up to the gate. Just as the hokage had said, the white swirl pattern stood out against the slightly dulled metal. Naruto placed his hand on it and sighed before feeding his chakra through. The gate immediately reacted and swung open. Naruto slowly walked on, almost afraid something would attack him. The ANBU decided to follow in curiosity, but their plan was squashed when they were shocked and blown back as soon as they set a foot past the gate.

_'Damn, the things in here must really be meant for my eyes only.'_

Naruto walked up to the door to find another swirl pattern on it. Putting two and two together, he once again fed chakra into the symbol, and the door opened. He stepped inside and the door shut behind him and lights flickered on. From the inside the house was huge. From where he was there was a staircase in front of him leading to the second floor, and there were two hallways on his left and right. There was a small table by the staircase and Naruto saw there was a note on it. He picked it up and began to read.

_'Naruto, if you're reading this that means either you're 18 and you've received your heritage - all of this- or the old man couldn't hide it well enough and you've received it underaged. If so, I am going to haunt his dreams tonight. But anyways, I am Kushina Uzumaki, your mother. I'm so sorry we can't be there for you, I really am, but know your father and I are always watching over you. We know you've probably been through some rough times, and we are so proud of you for hanging in there. You truly will be a great ninja. But I'm here to help you find what you need to get started. The master bedroom is up these stairs, and at the very end of the hallway. Inside of the room is a trunk at the foot of the bed. Feed your chakra into the swirl pattern, and it will open. Everything will be in there, even a map of this place to help you find your way. But don't worry about that now. Just get started on your training, okay? In the trunk are two sets of scrolls: the red ones are mine, the blue ones are your father's. Every week, read a chapter of both of our journals and practice whatever it tells you to do. No shortcuts, you will learn as we learned, got it? Oh, and if Kakashi is still in the village, try to get him to teach you. I'm not sure if he'll take on a student, but it can't hurt right? Always be strong and never let anything get you down okay? I love you my son and I look forward to seeing you again one day.'_

Naruto looked at the letter with a sad smile. He couldn't believe he was actually in contact with his parents. He wasn't some abandoned child after all. Orphaned, yes. Abandoned, no. Deciding to follow his mother's instructions to the very last dot, Naruto ran up the stairs and to the door at the very end of the hall, completely ignoring the other doors in the hall. Naruto was excited, but also nervous. What if he couldn't learn the techniques? What if he wasn't worthy enough to do this? As if on cue he noticed a note on the door.

_'Get rid of any doubts you may have my son. You are the child of the fourth hokage and the strongest kunoichi of the land of waves. You can do this. You've worked so hard to get here, don't you dare back down now.'_ Kushina reminded him. Naruto took a deep breath and reached for the handle. He turned it and the door easily opened. It was dark, so Naruto had to feel around for a light switch. Finding it, he quickly flipped it on and stood there as everything became illuminated. The room was quite plain: a king sized bed, two large dressers, a desk (no doubt for his father's work), and a bathroom. Naruto spotted the aforementioned trunk and knelt beside it.

_'Well, here goes nothing.'_ Naruto inwardly sighed, placing his hand on the swirl. He fed his chakra into it and it clicked open. Naruto pushed the top up and saw what he was looking for: two bundles of scrolls, one blue, the other red. There was a note on top of the red bundle and Naruto opened it.

_'Well done for getting this far my little fox. But now you must seal these items so you can carry them home with you. There is a sealing scroll with inscriptions already on it. Just take all the scrolls and stack them on top of each other inside of the circle on the sealing scroll. Then form the ram handsign and say "Seal!" and that's it! To undo it, just form the tiger handsign and say "Release!" got it? Good, now get going. Make sure to lock up. Nah, just messing with ya. The place locks itself up. No need to keep up with pesky keys. Go and get some rest and start your training tomorrow. See ya in my journal.'_

Naruto folded the letter and placed it in his pocket then took the scrolls out of the trunk and set them aside. He took the sealing scroll and opened it, rembering seeing all of these complicated patterns in the Academy. He placed the scrolls in the center and formed the ram.

"Seal!" he cried. The items disappeared in a cloud of smoke, leaving the kanji for seal in the circle. Satisfied and anxious to start training, Naruto got up and headed for the door. There was yet another note.

_'Naruto, before you leave this room look inside the bottom drawer of your father's dresser, the one on the left of the bed. There should be enough money to keep you going for a long while. Use it wisely and don't blow it all on ramen like your father would. Get some weapons, clothes, and accepted amounts of food. We hope this helps.'_

Naruto practically dashed to the described dresser and pulled open the last drawer. He dug through the few pairs of pants and found a huge stack of money. It had to have been at least 100,000,000 yen. Naruto had never seen so much money before, so he was immediately on alert, afraid it might disappear or get stolen. He took out the things from the scroll and added the money before sealing them again. On top of the dresser was another note and it looked like it was the last one.

_'Now go and become a splendid ninja Naruto. You can do this, we both believe in you. You can come back any time you'd like, but until you're 18, if you aren't, don't stay long. Try to limit it to an hour at the most okay? Be strong and fearless and try to get along with Sasuke. His mother told me you two would be great friends and rivals, and if you're anything like your mother or me, you two are rivals no doubt. But you gotta have some people close to you, to give you a motive to keep fighting. One day, you could even be hokage like your old man._  
><em>- Minato Namikaze, your father.'<em>

Naruto read the note with watery eyes. His father had left him a note, and he said he believed in him. That meant the world to Naruto and he left the estate a determined man.

_'I will be the strongest.'_ Naruto ran home, looking around quite often to see if someone was following him. He unlocked, entered and locked his house within five seconds. His back against the door, Naruto let out a heavy sigh. A smile crept onto his face and he chuckled.

_**'Alright kit enough wasting time. Go ahead and at least start reading.'**_

_**'Hmm? Why are you in such a rush and helping me Kyuu?'**_

_**'Believe me, it's not for your benefit. Like your parents said, your mother was my last host, and she was quite the powerful woman. Truly worthy of using my power. If you want to learn how to use my power to your advantage, then I suggest you do exactly what your mother wants.'**_

_**'You said it wasn't for my advantage.'**_ Naruto snickered.

_**'Fine. It benefits us both. If you get stronger, you will be a step closer to becoming hokage. And I will be in a powerful host so I'll have less chance of dying. If you die, I die.'**_ Kyuubi explained. This made Naruto even more determined than before.

_**'Okay, I'm gonna do everything my mom said to do. And she told me to rest, so I'm gonna rest. But...'**_ Naruto said, quickly creating a clone._** 'You can read for me so when I wake up I'll be ready to go.'**_ Naruto said. The clone nodded, understanding his assignment. Naruto took out the scroll and took out everything. He quickly located the first scroll among the numerous red ones and handed it to his clone. Naruto then proceeded to reseal the items and put the scroll under his pillow. Not even bothering to put night clothes on, Naruto stripped his jumpsuit, leaving him in a t-shirt and boxers, and climbed into his covers. His clone sat on the edge of the bed and set to reading.

_'Naruto, enclosed is the first part of my diary. I began my training around the age of 12 after I graduated from the academy, and I finished by the time I was 18. Yes, it takes a while, but it's so worth it in the end. You should've seen all the things I could do just by knowing how to control pure chakra. But... I won't tell you now, I'll let you figure that out when you get there. Just be patient, and never, EVER try to skip ahead. If you do, your training will be pointless. This is one of the most precise techniques in the shinobi world, and to skip even the tiniest part will ensure failure. So study hard and become strong, my son.'_

The clone set aside the letter and began to read the diary. This first entry was headed January 17.

_'Hello diary, or whatever you want me to call you,_

_This is my first time writing in one of these things. My mom says I need a creative outlet for all my energy. She says my pranks are getting "out of hand"... whatever... But my name is Kushina Uzumaki and today my mom started my pure chakra training. I've been waiting so long for this, but it's totally boring right now. The only thing I even did today was sit there for hours and hours on end and meditate. Mom said before I could go any further in the training I needed to find my center. I thought I had already found it, but apparently not. Jeez, couldn't she cut me some slack? I have this damn fox in me, messing up my chakra. I barely even passed the academy graduation test - creating a Kami-forsaken shadow clone! - and now she expects me to find my center? Wish me luck... Why am I even saying things like that? "Wish me luck", you're a freaking diary! You're just a book with empty pages just waiting for me to spill my life problems. Whatever. Mom's calling, gotta go. Until next time I guess.'_ The clone put that page down and smirked.

_'We are so much like mom was when she was a kid.'_

He picked up the second and last page of this section and noticed the writing looked a bit... frantic.

_'Dear diary,_

_I had no intention of ever writing in you again for the rest of my life, but today has been nothing but horrible. It started out okay. More meditating to find my center. And for a second, I thought I was getting there but then that damn fox had to go and mess it up. He started whispering about how much the villagers secretly hated me and wanted me dead. My concentration broke and sent a surge of chakra out around me. Knocked my mom to the ground. Then the fox started taking over my body and I ended up hitting my mom with a chakra arm and knocked her into a tree. Her shriek brought me back to normal and I ran to her. I thought she was gonna be soooo mad at me and stop training me so all I could do was try to help her up. She just looked at me and asked, 'Was it the Kyuubi?' I nodded. She smiled at me and patted my head._

_'You're not mad at me?' and this is what she said._

_'Mad at you? No Kushina, why would I be mad? I'm a kunoichi, I can take a few hard hits. Trust me, I've had worse. But we need to talk. Your training will be very difficult because that damn fox will try to stop your progress. You see, there is a reason our family, and other families of jinchuuriki are skilled in the manipulation of pure chakra. We use it to control the demons and use their chakra to our advantage. As you can probably guess, the fox doesn't like that idea very much, so he will try to do anything to pull you off track, or tempt you to want to skip this meditating part, the most important of all the training. But you have to ignore him, you must not listen or your training will all be useless. Do you understand Kushina?'_

_'Y-yeah, I understand mom.' she relaxed then._

_'Good, then let's get back to training.'_

_So after that we started training again. Kyuubi really didn't bother me that much. He'd try to say something, but then his voice would just fade away. It was weird, so I asked mom. She said she was using her pure chakra to lessen the Kyuubi's influence. It makes my meditation so much easier, but I still haven't found my stupid center. I don't know what I'm doing wrong... I do like mom tells me to. I sit down with my legs crossed, with my hands in the tiger seal. Then I focus on my chakra pool and focus, and focus, and focus until I feel a secure connection with it. Then I have to envision a large circle enclosing on the pool of chakra, getting smaller and smaller until it fits nicely around it. Then I will have found my center. But that's the problem. Everytime I try to close the circle on it, the Kyuubi's chakra will push against it and break the circle. Then I have to start all over again. It's really frustrating, but I swore to succeed, and that's what I'm gonna do._

_Until next time'_

The clone put the page down and quickly turned to his sleeping boss.

_'I gotta let the boss know about this.'_ he prepared to dispel himself, but found he couldn't mold his chakra properly.

_**'I guess you forgot about me huh? I'd almost forgotten about that technique, it's been so long. But guess what? I don't plan on being anyone's pet ever again, so if you want to speed up his training, good luck. You'll have me to deal with every single time. So go on, tell the kit what you've found out. It won't help. Unless he knows how to get what he wants, I can keep messing up his chakra flow. He'll never finish this training!'**_ The fox laughed.

_**'Man, could this get any more troublesome?'**_ the clone managed to mold enough chakra to dispel, and the fox settled down in its confinement.

**'Let's see if the kit has what it takes to control my power. Kushina, he's gonna need all the patience you had...'**

Naruto woke up the next morning in a crappy mood. He had learned all his clone had, and he couldn't believe the damn fox turned on him like that.

_**'Hey Kyuubi, what the hell is going on with you?'**_

_**'I won't repeat myself. Your clone was listening, was it not?'**_

_**'That doesn't matter! So you're gonna do whatever it takes to stop me? Good luck with that.'**_ and with that, Naruto shut off their connection. He quickly got dressed and grabbed some money from the scroll. After he put the scroll in a safe place and creating ten clones to guard the place he left, making sure to lock the door behind himself. He was angry, and hungry. He needed a hot bowl of ramen. But there lay the problem. He wasn't sure if the manager would let him in, so he had to ask the old man to take him.

Sarutobi sat behind his desk, starting his day with a nice helping of paperwork. He mentally groaned at the mere sight of it.

_'I'm getting too old for this.'_ After yesterday, he had found his thoughts drifting toward the loud blonde. He wondered how it went and if he found all he told him about. A knock on his door brought him out of his thoughts and a head of yellow hair made him smile.

"Hey old man!" Naruto greeted happily. So Naruto was fine, that eased some thoughts. But there was something a bit off, a bit more mature about him.

"Hello Naruto. What brings you here?"

"I went to my parent's house yesterday and I found those scrolls you told me about. But my mom also left me a lot of money in the room. I'm hungry and I want some ramen. You want to come with me? I'm not sure they'll let me come in..."

"You're asking me to drop my duties as hokage, possibly at the consequence of enraging the daimyo and the council, to go and indulge in the greatest ramen in the entire fire country? Give me a second." and with that, he shoved his papers back and stood up. He nodded at Naruto and they left, Naruto with a big grin on his face.

"Hey, jiji.' Naruto started. Sarutobi was so relieved to hear Naruto call him that again. 'about yesterday. I'm sorry I got so mad..."

"No Naruto, it's my fault. I should've been more sensitive to your feelings..."

"No! Mom explained it to me. I understand why you did what you did. I'm the one who went off the deep end." Naruto argued. The elderly man was about to argue back, but he suddenly stopped and gave a slight bow. Naruto stopped just as the sand siblings walked by him, Temari side-by-side with Gaara, Kankuro following slightly behind.

"Hey Temari-chan!" Naruto called out, making all of the siblings, and the hokage, freeze in their tracks.

"Hey Naruto. Did you just call me-?"

"Hey! You must be Gaara. We didn't get introduced yesterday. I'm Naruto Uzu-"

"I know who you are." Gaara interrupted.

"H-how?" Naruto asked, getting a little worried.

"From what Temari told me, you seem like a worthy opponent. I... look forward to facing you one day." and with that, they walked on, Temari with a light blush on her cheeks.

_'Temari... chan?'_

"I can't believe he's that well mannered." Sarutobi whispered as he and Naruto walked on.

"Why?"

"That boy, Gaara, is the jinchuuriki for the one tailed raccoon, Shukaku. That demon is known for being unstable and very psychotic. His sister seems to be a very interesting woman. She walks that close to him with no fear, she must be something. She's sure caught your attention my boy."Normally Naruto would've replied, but as soon as he said Gaara was a jinchuuriki, his mind went into overdrive.

**'Damn, damn, damn! I never thought Shukaku's vessel would arrive here, and with family.'** Kyuubi growled, pacing in his cave. 'Maybe, the boy's got me... Hell no! There's no way I'll give up this easily!'

'Didn't mom say all families of jinchuuriki are trained to some extent in the manipulation of pure chakra? Then this is very, very good. Maybe Kankuro, or better yet, Temari, has the skill. They could help me in my training.'

"Yes!" Naruto shouted, breaking out of his thoughts.

"What is it Naruto?"

"Oh jiji! You'll never believe this. Mom told me that our family is a lineage of pure chakra masters, and we use it to control the Kyuubi. But she also told me other families that usually have jinchuuriki for the same bijuu know some basic parts of the technique, for controlling the beasts. Maybe Temari knows it. She could help me in my training..."

"That's a nice theory. But you must remember. She's from a foreign land and she has her own training to do. What are the chances she'll be able to help you train?"

"I mean, not before the exams, though that would be nice. Maybe after the exams before she goes back home." the duo had arrived at the Ichiraku Ramen Shop in their distraction, and nearly bumped into an exiting couple. But quick instincts helped them avoid that accident. They went in and took their seats. A cheerful waitress skipped over to them with a small pad and a pen.

"Hello, welcome hokage-sama. I see you've brought a guest today. What would you like today?" the old man pondered for a second then smiled.

"The usual please Ayame. Miso pork." Ayame scribbled it down then turned to Naruto.

"Oh, I know who you are now.' Naruto flinched, he knew what was next. 'Well those idiots in the village don't see that you have a lot of potential. What can I get you Naruto?" Naruto was greatly shocked by the kind display, but quickly turned his mind back to the matter at hand.

"Hmm, how about Miso pork, extra pork please?" Naruto said.

"Healthy appetite. Alright, coming right up!" Ayame happily said, walking over to hand the order slip to the cook. Naruto happily relaxed on his seat, watching the food be prepared.

"I can't believe they let me stay in here." Naruto whispered, still amazed.

"Well the owner of this building is a very reasonable man. He feels it doesn't matter what others think of you, he goes by your personality, not your past. There's no need to be afraid of coming here. I'm sure he'll always welcome you." Naruto was so happy. Things were starting to look up.

"Will you shut it Kankuro? This is where we're eating. Unless you want to argue with me and Gaara..." Naruto was brought out of his thoughts by the trio entering the restaurant. Noticing Naruto, they walked over and sat next to the duo.

"Hey Temari-chan, Gaara-san, Kankuro-san. You here to eat?" Naruto asked, trying to start a conversation.

"No, we're here to perform a traditional Japanese tea ceremony." Kankuro sarcastically answered. Temari whacked him on the head mercilessly and turned back to Naruto as if nothing happened.

"Forgive Kankuro's childishness. He's just grumpy because he got outvoted on where we would eat lunch today." Temari snickered. Naruto laughed wholeheartedly, but that soon faded to a serious look. Sensing the change in attitude, Temari immediately became serious as well.

"Temari-chan, after this can I ask you a couple of questions?"

"Yeah, no problem. It must be pretty serious if it changed your mood that fast."

"Thanks for understanding." Naruto said.

"Oh! Hello Hokage-sama." Temari said, taking notice of the man behind Naruto. She reprimanded herself for not paying enough attention. If she wanted to be an ambassador she'd have to do better than that.

"Good afternoon Temari. How are you and your brothers?"

"We're fine sir. Thank you." Temari said in a highly political tone. At that moment, Ayame returned with the ramen bowls. She set them, along with two pairs of chopsticks, in front of Naruto and Sarutobi, who immediately picked up their chopsticks.

"Itadakimasu!" they said before they dove in.

"And what can I get you three?" Ayame asked the siblings.

"We'll take three of whatever he's having." Gaara answered, pointing to Naruto's bowl. There were no objections, so Ayame wrote it down and went back into the kitchen.

"Ahh... This is so good!" Naruto exclaimed, slurping down the noodles. He finished the bowl in 2 minutes and set it down. As soon as he did, another was placed in front of him. His eyes lit up like stars and he thanked Ayame.

"Don't thank me. Thank Hokage-sama." Ayame giggled, delivering the other bowls to the siblings who began to eat in silence.

"Mmph, thanks jiji." Naruto said, stuffing his mouth.

After lunch sarutobi hurried back to his office to continue his paperwork, leaving Naruto and the siblings alone.

"Oh, you wanted to talk to me about something Naruto?" Temari reminded him.

"Oh yeah! Um... do you two mind if I borrow Temari for a second?" Naruto asked.

"Whatever..." Kankuro replied, waving them away.

"Bring her back in no more than 10 minutes." Gaara warned, an underlying threat in his voice. Naruto gulped and nodded, then walked away with Temari at his side.

"Temari-chan, I'll just get straight to my first point. Gaara is a jinchuuriki isn't he?" Temari immediately stiffened. "Don't worry, it's okay. I'm a jinchuuriki as well. My bijuu is the nine tailed fox. His is the one tailed raccoon right? Well all my life I've been an orphan. My dad was killed during the attack of Kyuubi on this village, my mom died in childbirth. I'm just now finding out about them and I'm trying to learn how to control the demon's chakra. Do you know how to manipulate pure chakra?"

"H-how did you-?"

"My mother's clan, the Uzumaki clan, is the origin of pure chakra. Over time the basic practice of pure chakra spread to all families who have jinchuuriki."

"Even if this is true, what does this have to do with me?"

"You see, I want to learn pure chakra manipulation, but Kyuubi keeps disturbing my chakra flow. I was wondering if you'd be willing to help me by using your pure chakra to keep him under control." Naruto said, hope shining in his eyes.

"Naruto, I would love to help you. But... I have Gaara's training to worry about. I planned on starting it after the chuunin exams, and before the exams I have my own training to worry about. I really wish I could help you though."

"There just has to be a way. My mom said only the oldest should learn the form, so Kankuro probably doesn't know it right?' his suspicions were confirmed with a nod. 'I don't know what else to do!" Naruto sighed.

"... Wait! My pure chakra isn't the only thing that suppresses the Shukaku. When Gaara was younger and Shukaku got out of control, our dad would use gold dust to control it. Maybe..."

"Maybe Kyuubi has another weakness!" Naruto shouted in glee.

"All that's left is to find that weakness and find a way to use it." Temari concluded.

"Yeah, but what could the furball be weak to? He's practically invincible! Let's see here... Maybe Kakashi knows." Naruto wondered.

"Is he your sensei? Maybe he would know... Oh! I remember something! I recall studying about some of the tailed beasts before I came here. I want to be an ambassador for our villages one day. But I think I remember something about the nine tailed fox having somewhat of a weakness to the element of lightning. I'm sure of it. I remember being disappointed because no one in the land of wind knows lightning based techniques. We'd be utterly powerless against that beast of yours." Temari explained.

"Really? That's great! Kakashi-sensei is practically a master at lightning element jutsu! You're the best Temari-chan!" Naruto yelled, throwing his arms around her. He pulled back and noticed she was beet red. He placed a hand on her forehead, checking for a temperature.

"What's wrong? Your face is all red." Naruto gently asked.

"N-nothing is wrong."

"Okay then, of you say so. Don't you dare get sick on me. But before Gaara comes to hunt me down, would you like to go out for dinner sometime? I'll take you wherever you want to go. You can pick the best of Konoha if you wish."

"I'll think on it. But just a simple ramen dinner would do. Being the oldest and only girl of the Kazekage means I get the best all of the time, after I'm trained mercilessly to be the best. I'm tired of the extravagance. But, know we're not dating. I want to get to know you better before I consider something like that."

"I understand and respect your decision Temari-chan. If you come to a decision, I'm always around the old man Hokage. We might bump into each other." Naruto said, albeit a bit sad. Temari stepped forward and placed a gentle peck on his cheek.

"Don't be so down Naruto-kun. I didn't say no. I just want something meaningful and lasting, not a one week adventure. I'll see you later, okay?" Naruto seemed happier and nodded. She nodded and turned to walk away. Gathering his courage he grabbed her wrist and pulled her back to him. He placed his lips over hers for an instant, then fled. Temari stayed rooted to the spot, shocked, confused, yet pleased. Not even a minute later, Gaara walked around the corner.

"Temari, what's wrong?"

"N-nothing Gaara. Let's go back to the hotel." she said, joining her brother and leading him away. Gaara was confused, but he decided not to pry into her life. He'd until she told him. He didn't want to push her away. Not again.

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><p><em>A seven year old Gaara had just gotten home from a particularly stressful day. There had been a total of nine assassination attempts on him today, and his father worked him especially hard, so hard that he nearly passed out from exhaustion. He slammed the door open and stormed in. A then 9 year old Kankuro flinched at the sound and ran for cover. He knew not to ever anger Gaara, even on a good day. He could die. But the 10 year old Temari looked past the ensuing danger and walked straight up to Gaara.<em>

_"Hey Gaara! Welcome home. How was your day?" she cheerfully asked._

_"..." The sand in Gaara's gourd began to stir a bit._

_"Hello... Earth to Gaara... Say something little brother." Temari halfway whined._

_"Go away Temari. I'm not in the mood." But that didn't stop the cheery child. She placed a hand on Gaara's shoulder and kept it there, even as Gaara began to shake and the sand began to leak out._

_"Why, what happened? Tell me, I'll listen to you. I'm not like all the others. I wouldn't dare try to hurt you-"_

_"LIES!' Gaara screamed, the sand bursting forth. 'You want me to believe you, don't you? You want me to let my guard down so you can kill me! That's all everyone wants, me dead! Father put you up to this, didn't he?" The sand had worked its way to Temari and lifted her into the air, starting to creep around her neck. She began to panic. She clawed at the sand to no avail, trying to get down. Seeing it was useless she began to scream and cry. Surely everyone could hear her piercing howl, but no one came. Was it because they knew what lie behind the door? She was dying, for Kami's sake! She just hoped Kankuro wouldn't see this. Her body began to go limp and her world started to go dark._

_'Goodbye Kankuro, goodbye father, goodbye everything.' as Temari slipped into unconsciousness, the last thing she remembered was the door being opened forcefully and the frantic screaming of her father,_

_"Monster! Let go of her! Drop her this instant!"_

_When Temari woke up, she was in her father's room, safely tucked into his bed. She sat up immediately, afraid she'd be attacked by that sand again._

_"Father? Are you there?" she called out to the empty room._

_"Temari, you're awake. I'm glad. Are you feeling alright? Are you hurt?" her father asked from a chair beside her._

_"No, I'm okay. My throat hurts a little, probably because the sand was squeezing so hard." she said._

_"Okay, we can fix that. I'll get some medicine from the hospital later. You'll be okay." Temari nodded, then suddenly burst into tears. She was immediately scooped into the strong arms of her father, the kazekage._

_"Temari, listen to me. This is why I keep him away from you and Kankuro. To avoid things like this. He would've killed you if I hadn't shown up. I want you to stay away from him no matter what. I will not allow him to harm you anymore." Temari had no trouble listening to the request and immediately nodded her agreeance._

And she did stay away from him. For three entire years.

Gaara doesn't know why she started talking to him again. All he knew was he was so grateful that he never thought of hurting her again, for fear of being alone. And he would constantly apologize to her for what happened, and she would quickly get annoyed by the question, leading to a light argument.

* * *

><p>Naruto was overly excited. He searched all over Konoha to find his sensei and where else would he be but at that stand buying that porn they called books.<p>

"Sensei!"

"Hmm, hey Naruto. Do you need something?" Kakashi asked, picking up an orange book with a young nude couple in a provocative position. Naruto sighed and tried to ignore it.

"Yeah. Can you help me with something? I'm trying to learn pure chakra manipulation, but the Kyuubi keeps interfering. I heard that he's weak to lightning based chakra. Can you help suppress him while I do my daily lessons?"

"Hmm, Kushina did mention that things like this would happen eventually. Okay, I'll help. But Sasuke may be angry with me. He wanted me to train him tomorrow."

"Oh, you can train duckass. But just do that in the mornings, and train me in the evening, okay?"

"Okay, sounds like a plan. I'll be seeing you tomorrow then." and with that, Kakashi disappeared. Naruto smiled to himself and headed over to the weapons shop. It was about closing time anyways. He wanted to see what other things he could buy since he had money now. He sprinted to the back door and slipped in. The last customer was leaving and the owner began to put the items away for the night.

"Hey old man Hikaru!" Naruto shouted, freezing the man in his tracks.

"What do you want brat? I'm trying to close up shop." Hikaru sighed.

"Don't worry, I'll be real quick." Naruto went over to the higher grade kunai and picked one up, loving its smoothness and light weight in his hand. Naruto grabbed a few of them as well as the shuriken displayed next to them. He turned around and something caught his eye. There were swords on the opposite side. He ran over like a kid in a candy store and stared. There were five swords in horizontal rows directly in front of him, but only one held his attention. Its sheath was laced in a black and orange diamond pattern and the hilt was plain orange. But put anything orange in front of the knucklehead and he immediately falls for it. He put down the kunai and shuriken and lifted the sword. It was surprisingly light, and he slowly removed the blade. It was darkened steel, almost a black color, and it was obviously masterfully crafted.

"You got enough to buy that?"

"How much is it plus these kunai and shuriken?"

"Those things aren't cheap. Alone, those kunai and shuriken are 60,000 yen. That sword was crafted by Hashirama Shiromoto. He's known through this land as the weapons crafter for the wealthy. That sword is 300,000 yen." he said. Naruto's first reaction was to flinch at the high price, but he stopped himself.

"No problem. I'll take them." Naruto said, pulling out his money and counting the appropriate amount. He handed it to Hikaru, who counted it carefully.

"You steal this money boy?"

"Hmph, no. I just came into some... good luck." That was good enough for Hikaru, especially once he determined the money was real. He shoved the items into Naruto's arms and pointed to the back door. Naruto left after sealing the items away.

_'This is amazing. I have better things now, and a sword. I gotta get someone to teach me how to use it though... Oh well, there's gotta be someone. I just need to focus on tomorow, my training begins.'_


	4. Chapter 4

Yay, I'm back! Some of you are probably thinking "it's about damn time woman!" well, I apologize. Semester exams are coming up for me (whoooo... -_-) so I've been studying like crazy. So the next chapter probably won't be up for another couple of weeks because my brain will probably be fried after next week. But please hang in there with me until then.

Gasp! Over 7,000 hits for this story already? I'm so happy. This is far more popular than Petals in the Wind, and it's all because of my amazing readers! Keep on being awesome :) Okay, let me shutup so you can read.

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><p>Chapter 4: Trouble<p>

- 2 days earlier-

Somewhere deep in the land of sound, a meeting was being held between many shrouded men. At the head of the table sat a menacing-looking man with dark chakra emanating from him. Another man stood beside him, his assistant obviously.

"Why have you called us here?" a deep voice asked.

"Patience. As you all are aware of, the chuunin exams begin next week in Konoha. Many powerful genin will be there, including Sasuke Uchiha and Naruto Uzumaki." the man at the head of the table answered. There were several gasps around the table.

"U-Uzumaki? I knew it! I knew she had a child! That damn village covered it up so well. If she had a child he has to be the son of Minato Namikaze. This could pose a real threat to us. If he learns Kushina's pure chakra techniques and Minato's flying thunder god technique he'll most likely learn about us eventually and come seeking revenge." the same man said.

"The son of Minato Namikaze? Something must be done!" another man shouted. The man at the head of the table ignored him and stayed on the primary subject.

"What did you do?"

"We kidnapped Kushina and tried to force her to bear one of our children. But she was saved by Minato. As for-"

"That's all I wanted to hear. My plan is to invade Konoha during the exams, preferably during the third exam. I you will join us, say so now. If not, well I can't guarantee your safety." all men present raised their hands, some more reluctant than others, but not wanting to invoke the wrath of the man before them. Said man smiled wickedly. "Good. Know this: my own target is the Uchiha so I'll leave the jinchuuriki to you and the rest of Kumo."

"H-he's a jinchuuriki as well? Which one?"

"The fox."

"This is bad, this is very bad. Excuse us, we must be going now. We must prepare for the exams." the man said, standing up. Half of the men stood and followed him out of the room. The other man who'd cried out earlier stood up as well, leading the other half of the men out. When the room had been cleared, the man standing next to the head of the table leaned down.

"Orochimaru-sama, what do you want me to do?"

"Simple Kabuto. Get the sound four ready and pick out a team for yourself. You're going to be taking this exam."

"But sir-"

"Not for discussion. My plan is to take Sasuke away and destroy that pathetic village while I'm at it. If Iwa and Kumo get caught in it, so be it."

"Yes my lord. I apologize for speaking out of turn." Kabuto said, retreating into the darkness. Oh how he dreaded having to be amongst those weaklings, acting as if he were one of them.

"This is horrible! Raikage, that child must be either captured or killed!" The second man said to the other.

"You think I'm not aware of this? Of course the brat needs to be handled. How do you propose we go about this, Tsuchikage?"

"I say we send a couple of teams of our strongest genin to Konoha to participate in the exams. But their actual goal will be to capture the boy. If he resists, then they have permission to kill him."

"Hmm, your village and my village working together? I don't know if my boys will be able to handle that. But... we have no choice in the matter. Fine, we'll work together just this once. Got it?"

"Yeah, I got it. I'll send mission plans to you within two days." and the men separated, going to their respective village.

* * *

><p>Over in Konoha, Naruto was already up and about. He was extremely excited about today. He'd start his training with Kakashi this evening. He spent all morning making sure he had everything he needed: his weapons, his mother's first diary entry, his father's first journal entry, food and water. He stuffed all of the items into his backpack and put it by his bed. Deciding to get some fresh air, he quickly locked up and made his way onto the street. Mornings in Konoha were always the same: people filled the streets, making their way to vendors and other shops. And with the new genin arriving from other villages, they were becoming even more packed.<p>

_**'Hey kit, you still not talking to me?'**_ Kyuubi mock pouted.

_**'Why the hell would I want to talk to you? You're making this training more difficult than it needs to be.'** _Naruto snarled back.

_**'That's my aim. Stop being such a cub. This training is aimed to make you stronger right? How much sense would it make if I made it easy for you? A ninja really only gets stronger after some sort of struggle.'**_

_**'Yeah, yeah. Thanks for the proverbs, but I can do this just fine without any assistance. And I don't need any ninja 101, I already know this.'**_

_**'Oh yeah Great Ninja Master, then tell me why you've failed to notice that someone has been following you since you left your home.'**_ Naruto's eyes widened, and then narrowed as he searched out the chakra pattern. Kami he hated when Kyuu was right. Sure enough, someone was indeed following him.

_**'Thanks a lot you damn fox. When were you gonna tell me, when I was knocking at death's door? That chakra is huge!'**_ Naruto snapped. Kyuu didn't answer, so Naruto took things into his own hands. He acted as if nothing had occurred, all the while leading said follower to a more secluded area. He went all the way to a small grouping of trees near the memorial stone. He stopped and suddenly threw a kunai toward the person. Naruto could easily tell whoever it was dodged due to the shift in chakra. Naruto pulled out two more kunai and held them at the ready. The person still wasn't coming out so Naruto charged. Now the person began to run the opposite direction, but Naruto was too fast and tackled his follower to the ground.

"Ow!" a female voice cried out. Naruto got up and looked at her. He hadn't seen her around before and looking at her headband, he knew why. She was a kunoichi of Kumo.

"Why were you following me?" Naruto demanded. She sat up and looked into Naruto's angry eyes and sighed.

"I had heard about the strong genin in Konoha, so when I finally got here I decided to see how a Konoha ninja trains. When I felt your huge chakra I had to follow it. Sorry, my name is Raya." she explained, picking herself up.

"You should've just come out and talked to me instead of making me think a stalker was on my tail."

"Well how was I supposed to know that Konoha ninja aren't hostile against us?"

"That's why you talk to people, to find out these things. Oh, and a piece of advice. Learn to conceal your chakra better. It wasn't that hard to find out you were following me."

"I never meant to hide from you. If I had hidden my chakra you would've thought I was hostile, trying to attack you. And stop spewing crap about just talking to people to find out information. I take it you're new to this, being a ninja. Getting information you want is never that easy."

"But you're a genin just like me. How much longer could you have been one than me?"

"Try 3 years more. My personal story is none of your business but I can tell you that the ninja of Kumo are to be feared." and with that statement Raya walked off. Naruto watched her go then shook his head.

'I think I've had enough fresh air for today.' Naruto sighed, heading home. He sighed heavily as he walked through the door. As much as he hated to admit it, that girl had tremendous strength. It seemed as if all the foreign genin were amazingly strong: Raya, Gaara, Temari. He had so far to go. He just hoped he wouldn't have to face one of them in battle.

'Might as well read dad's journal while I'm at it.' Naruto dug the bluish scroll out of his backpack and plopped down on his bed. He broke the seal and unrolled it.

_'Naruto, so I guess if you're reading this, your mom had guided you to it. Remember what she said: one entry a week from us both, and practice the material, and as you learn more, combine your knowledge. Now in this scroll I begin my training to learn the flying thunder god technique. This is a very dangerous technique, my dad wouldn't even teach it to me until I had either turned 18 or became a jonin. I became a jonin first, but anyways, good luck Naruto. And... don't let that damn fox get you worked up. Mixed emotions will only negatively impact your training. -Minato'_ Naruto set aside the letter and continued reading. He noticed this was dated January 16, the day before his mom started training.

_'Um, so my mom says I need a "creative outlet for all my energy". She says I train too much. But I want dad to teach me more of his techniques, they're so amazing! But anyways, he actually started my training afterschool today. He made me run like 5 laps around the village. I'm so tired. He says it's for improved stamina and chakra control. Makes sense to me. Just wish we could do something more fun. So, the first step would be to do lots of running and exercising and chakra consuming things to improve chakra control. I'm not gonna write much to you, so later.'_ Naruto put away the scroll and chuckled.

_'Me and dad have a lot in common too.'_ Naruto created five clones and they stood at attention.

"Alright you guys. I want you to go do some exercises for me. I want you to run 5 laps around the village, I want you to practice some tree climbing techniques, I want you to practice some water walking, and I want you two to just meditate and try to find our chakra center for mom's training. Now go!"

"Right!" the clones dispersed, going off to perform their separate tasks. Naruto laid back and closed his eyes, figuring he should get more rest before his training.

* * *

><p>"Raya, report." a gruff voice demanded. The girl from before knelt at her master's foot.<p>

"Hmph, as far as I can tell he isn't too much to worry about. I could take him down easily. He didn't notice I was following him until he was a half mile from his home. His body language changed ever so slightly, but it was enough to notice. It is my specialty."

"Enough bragging girl. Get to the point."

"Well, he may be a bit unpredictable in battle. His chakra doesn't flow at a steady pace. It kept spiking, then lowering. He must not have gained full control of the fox yet."

"Excellent. If he can't control it all the way, then he is just another genin. Raya, I'm assigning you to that brat. Get close to him, get him to trust you. Then we'll kill him once the invasion starts and be on our way."

"Yes master." Raya said, getting up and leaving with two guys following her.

"Jintaro, Kai. Follow the boy. Get info on his close ties. Meet me back here in an hour." Raya ordered. The two immediately left. Raya looked around and walked down the street.

On the rooftop Temari lay, still as a mouse, comprehending what was going on.

'This is bad, very bad. I've got to warn Naruto. But, they're watching him. Maybe if I ask him to take me to dinner tonight. Then I can... I hate to have to do that, but I have to. I wasn't trained to use it to not use it.' Temari sighed and rushed to her apartment.

* * *

><p>A few hours later, around 4, Naruto was rested and ready to train. The work his clones did for him paid off. He was now a bit faster and more balanced than he ever was before. He got up and checked to make sure he had everything, then grabbed his backpack. He quickly put it on and walked toward the door. Right before he touched the knob someone knocked. The sound made Naruto jump, but he steadied himself and opened it.<p>

"Temari!" he yelled happily. He went to give her a hug, but she stopped him.

"Shh!" she looked around, scanning the area. Seeing that those guys were gone, she pushed Naruto into the building. She locked the doors behind herself and shut all the windows and curtains.

"Tema-chan? What's wrong?"

"What's wrong is this Raya girl. She's a Kumo ninja. If you see her know this: she's not friendly. She's plotting against you, to kill you during the third exams." Naruto looked at her with a blank expression. Apparently, she wasn't making much sense.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Calm down Temari. Just tell me what happened. From the beginning." Naruto gently said, sitting down on his bed. He patted the space next to him without thinking, and Temari sat down. She began to tell him her story, and he listened intently. Well, mostly intently. A voice in the back of his head wouldn't stop commenting on the obvious: how beautiful she was, how she was sitting on his bed, how irresistible she looked when she was serious.

_**'Shut the hell up Kyuu!'**_ Naruto shouted.

_**'The hell you going on about kit? I haven't said anything to you.'**_ Kyuubi growled. Naruto gulped. It was... his own imagination doing that? He tried to ignore the fact that those thoughts intensified now that he was aware that they were his own.

"So, what should I do?" Naruto asked.

"Well, I was thinking that when you're out in the daytime, don't flaunt your strength around. And when you're training with-" Temari heard a noise outside and stopped talking.

"What Temari? Go on." Naruto said. Temari slapped her hand over his mouth. The noise was closer now, like right outside of his window. If they discovered her counterplan, things would be bad. Thankfully, she was sitting on the right of Naruto, closest to his pillows, so she tackled him. He shifted just the right way and Temari climbed on top of him, nearly straddling him. She glanced up and saw a body crouching down at the window and she lowered her body, fully laying on Naruto now. She sealed it by kissing him, and deeply. Naruto was frozen like a statue, but he began to respond. The kiss intensified. Naruto's animal instincts began to take over and he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her closer. Temari was able to look up, even in that position, and she saw an eye. The person was obviously shocked and he fled quickly. Naruto was just getting into it. He prepared to flip them so that he would be on top, but sadly, Temari climbed off of him as quickly as she had climbed on.

"Temari, what's wrong?" Naruto asked, confused.

"Nothing. There was a spy there. I had to make it look like you were busy so that they wouldn't have anything to report." Temari explained.

"So... you weren't into it?" Naruto mumbled.

"Not into it...? Naruto, do you think I'm that easy? We barely know each other, and you think I would throw myself all over a guy after a couple of days? Some girls here may be like that Naruto, but I am nothing like that!" Temari shouted. Naruto had nothing to say, but his face was etched in guilt.

_'Oh Kami, if that guy hadn't left, what would I have done? I wouldn't have forced myself on her, right? I wouldn't make her do something she wasn't ready for, right?'_ Naruto thought. Truth is, he probably would've, but then he'd be a dead man.

"Temari, I'm sorry. I don't know what I was thinking. But I wouldn't dare compare you to the girls here. The only ones I know or have seen are the prissy 'oh save me' type. I can't stand them. But you, you're like a rose, with thorns. If people treat you right, then you're nice to them. If they cross you, then Kami help them. That I already know about you. But truth is, I've never had a relationship before so I didn't know how to respond to what you did. I'm-" Naruto was cut off by lips against his own. Temari gave him a short kiss then pulled back with a small smile.

"Shutup Naruto. You talk too much. Apology accepted, I guess. But you can make it up to me tonight. I want that ramen you promised me. We can talk more about my plan then." Temari whispered.

"It's a date then. I'll see you at... what works best for you?"

"Hmm, midnight. Remember, you're paying." Temari smirked. She turned and left, gently closing the door behind her. Naruto got up and locked the door, then laid down on his bed. He stared at the ceiling with a wide grin.

_'I have a date with Temari.'_ he sighed dreamily. He thought of when he'd meet her, how she would look, what he would wear, her brothers, what they would eat, her brothers, what they'd do afterwards. Maybe the park or something, her brothers.' Naruto broke out in a cold sweat once the pieces clicked together.

_'I have a date with Temari!'_ his mind screamed. Oh Kami, he was a dead man. A DEAD man. Gaara would probably crush him, or maybe Kankuro? No, Gaara would probably catch him first. He seemed the most protective of her. Naruto glanced at the clock and saw it read 6:30. He jumped up and grabbed his backpack.

_'I'm late for training!'_ Naruto burst out of the door, pausing to lock it, then took off. He ran at a break-neck pace, hoping Kakashi would be late as always. Naruto had grown accustomed to the man being late over the years, and adjusted his schedule accordingly. Kakashi had told him to meet him at the training fields at 5. Naruto added an hour to give his lazy sensei time. But now he was half an hour late!

Naruto arrived at the grounds and gulped. Kakashi stood in the center, reading his Icha Icha Paradise book. He noticed Naruto and closed the book irritably.

"You're late Naruto."

"I-I know Kakashi sensei. It's just that-"

"40 laps around this field. And no shadow clones." Kakashi cut him off. Naruto looked around. The field had to be at least a quarter of a mile around.

"You've got to be kidding-"

"When you're finished, report back to me. Go!" and with that, Kakashi sat down and continued reading. Naruto sighed hopelessly and sulked off to do his laps.

"No shadow clones, he expects me to do this? He's trying to kill me! All those times he's late. He should make himself run those laps." Naruto mumbled.

"Naruto, 50 laps." Kakashi said, looking up for a few seconds. Then back to the book. Naruto wanted to punch something. He'd never finish.

About two hours later, Naruto had finished. He was sweaty, tired and aggravated.

"Go home Naruto. Take a shower, eat, and sleep. Tomorrow, we'll try again." Kakashi said, and he disappeared in a puff of smoke. Naruto groaned in frustration and went home, wondering what pole found its way up his sensei's butt. After he freshened up he looked at the clock: 9:30. He grabbed a bowl of instant ramen and inhaled it in no time. The clock now read 9:45. He could get an hour and three quarters of sleep, and still be ready for the date. He jumped onto the bed and fell asleep almost immediately.

* * *

><p>It was 10 when the siblings called lights out. They went to their own rooms and there was no more sound. Temari lay under her covers and thought about what Naruto would wear. Probably something casual. Midnight was no time to be getting dressed for a night out on the town. She'd just wear her normal clothes to the date, she decided. She was completely still, listening for the sounds of her brothers sleeping. There was a deep, drawn out snore. Kankuro down, Gaara to go. With startling realization, Temari remembered that Gaara didn't sleep. How could she have forgotten? She needed a plan, and quick.<p>

**-11:30-**

Naruto's alarm went off, blasting the tune of Number One** (A/N: from the Bleach soundtrack)**. Naruto got up, slapping the snooze button just as the song got to the chorus, and put on the clothes he decided to wear: he wore his normal pants and shoes, but he switched his top for a black short sleeved v-neck shirt that clung to his body like a second skin. On top of that he wore an orange jacket. He washed his face once more and brushed his teeth. He looked himself over in the mirror and kept saying to himself _'I can do this, I can do this.'_ he took a confident breath and ran out of his apartment.

Temari was dressed and ready to go. She did choose her normal outfit, but swapped the red sash for a cerulean one. Hell, she'd never been on a date either. She didn't know what was expected of her in this process. What she did know was that she wasn't going out of her way to doll herself up. If a guy wanted her and she actually paid attention to him, then he would have to settle for the good old plain Temari. And if it wasn't enough for them, then bye-bye-bye, plenty more where he came from. Temari silently made her way down the hallway to Gaara's room. She pushed open the door and saw him sitting on the windowsill, looking out into the darkness.

"Gaara?" he turned to her. "I need to run to one of those convenience stores. I need some medicine."

"What kind?" he asked, intrigued.

"You wouldn't understand. It's women's medicine." Gaara pondered it.

"Didn't you buy some already?"

"No, that was just my vitamins remember?"

"Ah, I think I do. Fine, the village seems safe enough for a safe trip. Be back within 30 minutes." Gaara declared. Temari smiled and left. It was shorter than what she hoped for, but it could work. She slipped out of the door and made her way to the ramen shop.

* * *

><p>Naruto knocked on Temari's window as gently as he could, while still doing it so that she would hear. The window shifted and rose up. But behind it was...<p>

"Gaara! Uh, where's Temari?"

"At the store, buying medicine. Why?"

"I had to ask her something." Naruto said.

"At midnight? Uzumaki, I do not want you distracting Temari from her training and duties. The ambassador selection test will be happening soon after the chuunin exams, and she wants to be that." Gaara said.

"No problem Gaara. I would never think of compromising her chances." Just then, a panicked woman ran down the streets. She saw the boys and ran up to Naruto.

"Please, you've got to help her! They shot arrows at her, but she couldn't dodge them all. One got her arm and she collapsed. It must've been a poison. They took her away." she sobbed.

"Please ma'am, we need you to tell us what she looks like." Naruto said, placing a hand on the woman's shoulder.

"Well, she's kinda tall, she had green eyes and fair skin. I don't think she's from here. It's took dark to see, but I'd bet that kimono she was wearing was black." the two boys were completely worried now.

"W-what did her hair look like?" Gaara asked.

"Oh, it was so unique, so weird. She had her blonde hair tied into 4 ponytails." the lady said. Their fears were confirmed

"Temari!"

* * *

><p>Holy plot twist! Who took Temari and why? Will she be recovered before the exams? Will Naruto ever get that date? Stay with me for future chapters :) it'll get better, I promise. Oh, review please. You all make me so happy with reviews.<p> 


	5. Chapter 5

Hello wonderful readers. On this wonderful day we know as Christmas I wanted to release another chapter. Now, this chapter was a bit sad to me, I almost started crying. Maybe because I was listening to Lost (by Red) on continuous loop while writing it. Anyways, before I start I'd like to thank all of my awesome reviewers for the last chapter. You all make me so happy.

Hmm, I'm gonna do a disclaimer: I do not own any works depicted here, except for the Kumo ninja that I made up. Naruto is Masashi Kishimoto's work, not mine. If it was, then things would be different. Temari would not be a minor character and Sakura would've been useful in the Naruto series.

* * *

><p>Chapter 5: Rescue<p>

"No. It can't be. You must be mistaken!" Gaara halfway growled. He refused to believe that she had been kidnapped.

"I-I... That's just what I saw." the woman feebly defended. Gaara growled again and she whimpered.

"G-Gaara, you're scaring her. We gotta face it, no matter how difficult it is." Naruto said in an attempt to calm Gaara down.

"I'm really sorry sir. I would've helped, but I don't have any kind of fighting skills." the woman said. Naruto nodded his thanks to her and she hurried off.

"Gaara, don't worry. We'll get her ba-"

"Shut your mouth Uzumaki!" Gaara interrupted, effectively silencing Naruto. "Do you honestly think it's going to be that easy? Just get her back and everything will be fine? No, it won't. You have something to do with this, and somehow you've gotten Temari involved. Even if we do get her back, during the rest of our stay we'll have to be highly on guard. If she had only stayed away from you like I told her, we wouldn't be in this mess." Gaara snarled, walking back into the apartment.

"Gaara wait. Where are you going?"

"To wake Kankuro so we can go find our sister. Do not interfere. You've been warned." and with that, Gaara slammed the door. Naruto, ignoring every word Gaara said, immediately ran over to see the old man. With any luck, he'd still be at his desk, filling out paperwork.

"Kankuro, wake the hell up!" Gaara shouted, using his sand to rip the covers off of his brother. Kankuro fell to the floor in surprise, then jumped up, ready to fight.

"The hell is going on? Gaara, why the hell would you wake me up like that?" Kankuro demanded.

"Get dressed. Now." Gaara commanded.

"Not until you tell me what the hell is going on. You wake a guy and tell him to get dressed, and you don't try to-"

"Temari's been captured." Gaara said glumly. Kankuro stopped mid-sentence and stared at Gaara. More like glared, as if Gaara were playing some sick joke and cameramen were about to pop out all over the place. But seeing the serious look on his brother's face convinced him.

"Give me a minute. You're explaining on the way." Gaara nodded and left.

_'Kami Tema, the hell have you got yourself into?'_

* * *

><p>"Old man!" Naruto shouted, bursting into the office. Unfortunately for Hiruzen he had dozed off, and the surprise caused him to knock a stack of papers to the ground.<p>

"What is it Naruto?" he asked quite irritably.

"I need your help! Temari's been captured! I think it was the kumo ninja. Temari said she'd overheard their plans to kill me, and now she's gone." Naruto spouted miserably.

"Naruto calm down. Well find her, don't worry. She's a child of the kazekage. We'll use every resource we have to get her back safely. But you just need to remain calm and let the ANBU handle it."

"Um... you might want to get a move on then. Gaara and Kankuro are probably on their way to search for her right now." Hiruzen snapped and a squad of four ninja appeared in the room. They all kneeled.

"Yes Hokage-sama?" their leader asked. He wore a mask resembling the face of a wolf.

"Wolf, we have a pressing matter at hand. The kazekage's daughter is missing and her brothers are looking for her. I want you and the rest of the tracking squad to fan out and search for her. Use whatever you can to find her. Perhaps an article of clothing may help. Report back to me about any findings. Also, make sure Gaara and Kankuro return home as soon as possible. If needed, keep them there by force. No more shinobi must go missing. Go!" they all disappeared.

"What now?" Naruto asked restlessly.

"Now, we wait."

* * *

><p>In the outskirts of the village lay a well hidden entrance to an underground cave. Inside, a group of three Kumo ninja stood in front of a cage. Inside the cage lay an unconscious girl, one with a black kimono and blonde hair tied in four ponytails, yet slightly out of place due to the struggle preceding her coming here.<p>

"Are you sure this will help? She's a sand kunoichi. They can't have known each other for long." Raya asked.

"Yeah I'm sure. You didn't see what I saw. She was all over the brat. If I hadn't left I would've seen..." Jintaro began, blushing slightly. He was slapped harshly.

"Stop your lewd thinking pervert!" Raya snarled.

"So, what do we do with her?" Kai asked impatiently.

"I don't know... We'll just keep her here for now and wait for sensei's orders." Raya answered.

"Well, the boss didn't say we couldn't have fun, did he?" Jintaro asked, making his way to the cage. Raya sighed and turned away.

"Kai, keep him under control would ya? I gotta go see what the boss is doing."

"Sure, why not? I always get stuck with this idiot anyways." Kai sighed, going to pluck his teammate off the bars.

* * *

><p>"What? I knew she should've stayed away from that brat! The next time I see him, he is a dead man!" Kankuro growled as he and Gaara searched for clues to where Temari could've been taken. Gaara had told the story to Kankuro, and he hadn't taken any better than he had.<p>

"I don't know what we'll do if we get her back-"

"When we get her back." Kankuro corrected.

"Right. But if she is a target for the enemy for being connected to Uzumaki, then we'll be in the line of fire as well."

"No problem. We'll just kick ass like always. They wanna hurt her, they'll have to go through the both of us right?" Kankuro declared. Gaara nodded and they kept searching.

"Gaara, Kankuro." the duo's heads snapped up to meet at least 10 masked men.

"Konoha ANBU? Why are you here?" Gaara asked.

"We have orders to return you to your apartment. We are currently searching for Subaku no Temari. Your assistance is not required."

"Great. He fucks up, and then involves these guys." Kankuro mumbled. "Look guys, that's nice and all, but we're looking for Temari, regardless of what you want us to do. So if you'll excuse us..." Kankuro said, turning away. The ANBU looked at each other and nodded. Four of them rushed ahead and surrounded the two in a square formation. Kankuro reached behind him for his puppets and Gaara's sand began to rise, but before they could get proper defense the ANBU formed a string of handsigns faster than Gaara thought possible and placed their hands on the ground. Four purple pillars shot about 10 feet into the air and joined, forming a closed box around Gaara and Kankuro.

"What the hell?" both said in unison. Kankuro pulled out a kunai and charged the box, but Gaara pulled him back just before he made contact with it.

"Wait." Gaara brought up some sand to touch the box. As soon as it did, the sand caught on fire. Gaara put the fire out and sighed. They were trapped.

"Great. There's nothing we can do about this." Gaara reported. The four who trapped them stayed, but the other ANBU quickly fled.

* * *

><p>Back at the hokage's mansion Naruto paced back and forth.<p>

"Where are they?" it had been almost an hour now, and nothing from anyone about Temari.

"I'm sure they'll be back soon Naruto. Just calm down. The ANBU are extremely careful about these things. If they were to rush in recklessly, the enemy may hurt her. They are our best tracking team besides Kakashi and the Inuzuka."

"I'm sorry, but that isn't enough for me. This is my fault, I gotta fix this." Naruto sighed, running off without giving Hiruzen time to respond. The elderly hokage sighed and sat back in his chair. A cloaked figure appeared before him.

"Keep an eye on him. If he gets in trouble, provide assistance." was the simple command. The figure disappeared.

Naruto ran down the streets, carefully scanning for anything out of place. Besides it being incredibly dark (it was past two in the morning), nothing necessarily jumped out at him like 'She could be right in here.' he sighed. He had to use his sharpened senses.

_**'Kyuu...'**_ Naruto called as if having to rely on the demon burned his throat.

_**'Oh? You talking to me?'**_ Kyuubi laughed.

_**'Temporarily. But I need help. Temari's gone, but I don't know where to begin to look for her.'**_

_**'Oh, that. Yeah, simple enough. You still gonna train like your parents said later?'**_

_**'Duh, why wouldn't I? And I'm gonna be the best. You won't stand in my way, know that now. I'll find a way to beat you. So will you help me?'**_ Naruto asked a bit impatiently. Kyuubi made a small growl under his breath, which told Naruto he was thinking.

_**'Hmm, sure. Why not? Can't exactly expect to have a powerful host if your fragile heart is broken. Go ahead, I won't stop you.'**_

Naruto immediately used the fox's chakra to sharpen all of his senses. His sensitive nose had to get used to all the smells around the village, but after a couple of minutes Naruto could distinctly recognize Temari's scent within all the others. The ANBU must've been fighting the enemy right at that time. Naruto crouched down like a fox and dashed toward the area - outside of the village, really well hidden. However, it took Naruto almost no time to locate the entrance.

_'I'm coming Temari.'_ and he ran inside.

* * *

><p>The ANBU were already engaged in a battle of their own against two guys. The first, Kai, had short black hair and a black ninja suit on. He had a sword strapped to his back, which he was currently using to fend off two ANBU. The other, Jintaro, was dressed similar, but he had nearly no hair and was about twice the size of the first one. He was in his own fight with three ANBU, and he looked like he was holding his own fairly well.<p>

"So, the jinchuuriki decides to join us." Kai noted, not even hesitating in his fight. Jintaro snickered.

"What the hell have you done with Temari?" Naruto demanded.

"Oh don't worry jinchuuriki. You'll find out soon enough." a female voice said from behind him. He spun around to see Raya, a wicked grin displayed on her face.

"Raya? Why?" Naruto asked.

"Simple. There are just some things we can't risk, and you're one of them. Oh don't look so hurt, betrayal is just something that happens to shinobi, sometimes more often than we would like it to." she sighed, pulling out a kunai. Naruto immediately created two shadow clones.

"You two hold her off. I'll be back." Naruto said, turning his back.

"Big mistake. No one ignores me." Raya whispered dangerously. She pulled out a device and spoke into it.

"Do it, I don't care." she apparently left it on, because soon after that Naruto heard the unmistakable crack of a whip and he flinched. But what froze and boiled his blood and what made his heart stop and beat at a rapidly increasing pace was the sharp cry that rang out. It was...

Naruto immediately left his clones and forced his way through the madness. There were stairs in the back and Naruto raced down them, knocking anyone out of his way. Thankfully and sadly, he didn't have far to go. When he got there what he saw would have made Hinata go blind with rage. Two huge, muscular guys with Kumo headbands tied on their upper arms were there. One of them held an iron chain, and on the other end was an iron collar, around Temari's neck. She was wearing hardly anything but her bra and panties, and angry red welts marked her body. Some even had small trails of blood oozing from them. She looked up at him with pain in her eyes. She tried to say something, but she had apparently strained her voice from her screaming. Naruto was frozen in place. The second guy brought up a whip and brought it down. It smacked her back and she cried out, although hardly any sound came out. Naruto felt a tear fall down his cheek.

"T-Temari." he whispered. Another crack of the whip and another barely audible scream. It was as if the two idiots didn't even know he was here.

"Temari, no." the second guy brought the whip up once more and brought it down. However, it was caught mid-swing and the guy found himself hitting the wall hard. Before he lost consciousness he looked up at Naruto, a red cloak surrounding him. There was a tail behind him, made of that same chakra.

Back upstairs, the fight began between Raya and the clones.

"Hmph. You two think you can defeat me? Please, I've been trained under the Raikage himself. You don't have a chance." Raya smirked, her hands coming alive with lightning. The clones both grabbed a kunai and stood at the ready. She dashed toward them and thrust her fist forward one of them. He jumped over it at the last second and brought his kunai down. That plan was squashed when the kunai bounced harmlessly off of Raya's skin.

"What the hell is up with this girl?"

"Like I said, you can't defeat me. Especially with such basic techniques." she smirked, rushing toward the other clone. The other clone dodged and caught her arm. He was treated to a burst of electricity racing through his body. He groaned in pain, then dissipated. "Weakling. Show me your strength, use that bijuu power of yours!"

"Wait, how do you know about that?" but Raya was already charging. The clone could feel Naruto's chakra spiking, and he knew that it must've been pretty bad down there. In fact, he could feel the fox's chakra filling his body as well. The tail grew and the clone allowed his instincts to take over. He crouched down and growled a bit. Raya looked utterly amused as she kept coming. She threw another punch, but the clone caught it before hit him. The shock stung a bit, but nothing he couldn't handle. He threw the fist aside and punched Raya in the stomach, sending her skidding back a few feet. She held her stomach in pain, but stood her ground.

"Good, that's what I'm talking about!" she snarled, her entire body glowing with electricity. She formed a string on handsigns and thrust her palm forward. A few balls of lightning shot out and landed on the ground. They began to change shape until about five wolves stood, blue fangs bared.

"Lightning style: shocking wolf fang!" Raya said. The wolves growled, then raced toward the clone. The clone prepared to defend, not sure how he'd counter them.

A line of lightning struck the wolves, and they were immediately destroyed. Someone jumped in front of the clone, hands also glowing with lightning.

"Kakashi-sensei!"

"Hey there Naruto. Well, clone of Naruto."

"How'd you know I was here?"

"I've been following you this entire time. Let me handle this, go help the others." the clone nodded and ran over to the ANBU vs. Kai and Jintaro fight. He immediately knocked Kai down and began pounding on him.

"Well, shall we?" Kakashi asked, pulling out a few shuriken and running his chakra into them.

"Hmph. I'm smarter than that, Kakashi Hatake. I didn't come here to fight you. I came for the jinchuuriki. I know when I'm beat. Jintaro, Kai! We're going." Raya called out. Kai pushed an ANBU op away and Jintaro knocked the Naruto clone off of him. They immediately ran to Raya's side. The room filled with blinding light and everyone shielded their eyes. When the light died down, the trio was gone.

"Damnit." Kakashi growled.

* * *

><p>Back downstairs, Naruto growled and turned to the other guy.<p>

"The hell?" the first guy asked, dropping the chain and rushing Naruto. Temari fell like a sack of potatoes, and she almost immediately lost consciousness. Naruto ducked under the punch and snarled as he landed a firm fist in the guy's stomach. He was thrown back but regained his balance at the last second.

"Kiru the fierce loses to no one! Especially little jinchuuriki brats." Kiru proudly declared. Naruto growled and looked at Temari. He wanted to pound Kiru's face in until the sun came up, but he had to help her. Kiru seemed to sense Naruto's thought, because he dived for the end of the chain and snatched it. Seeing him hold that chain again, as if Temari were a... pet, infuriated Naruto even further. In a flash Naruto stood before Kiru. He placed his hand on the chain and flexed his fingers. Slowly, cracks appeared along the entire length of the chain as Naruto's chakra crept along it. It shattered into countless pieces, even the collar.

"W-What? You little punk!" Kiru bellowed, punching Naruto in the stomach. Naruto was still for a few seconds, then a truly murderous look flashed in his eyes and he knocked Kiru back against another wall. He closely followed, punching him over and over again. He just wanted to kill him, exact his revenge for Temari. And he would've, but just as he went to deliver the final punch a tag was slapped on his forehead. Naruto immediately felt drained, more tired than he had ever felt in his entire life, and he fell to the side.

Kakashi picked up Naruto's limp body and turned to the ANBU.

"Good job keeping him out of this state." Kakashi said sarcastically. "Well, best be getting him to the hospital. Bring Temari. And make sure her brothers are released. And do something with these pieces of scum." Kakashi said before leaving.

_'At least those bastards won't be participating in the exams or allowed in the village for hopefully a long time. But why target Naruto? He has no sour ties with Kumo, unless... Damnit, why hadn't I thought of that? But, with Iwa here as well... I hope those idiots didn't make some kind of pact.'_ Kakashi sighed heavily. He definitely needed to have a talk with the hokage.

* * *

><p><em>'Ugh, my body feels like it's on fire. Where the hell am I?'<em> Temari's eyes fluttered open and she realized she was looking at dim lights and a white ceiling.

_'Don't tell me, this is the hospital? But why am I here? I was just on my way to meet Naruto and...'_ Temari suddenly sat up, remembering all that happened. Every fiber in her body hated the sudden movement, and she felt as though her skin would rip itself from her body. She cried out in pain, but not much sound came out. Her throat hurt like hell. She looked around instead, trying to put things together. She looked to the right and the first thing she saw was...

_'Gaara? Kankuro?'_ they were sitting on the small sofa in the room, both of their heads bowed in what seemed like silent sleep. Gaara was just sitting with his head down, probably hating himself for letting this happen, if she knew her little brother well enough. A nurse walked in and smiled at her.

"Well glad to see you're awake." she greeted cheerfully. Gaara's head rose, but his eyes held pure pain and torment. Temari knew she shouldn't talk, so she just nodded.

"Well I'm glad. I'll bring you some more aspirin in a short while. Oh, and some lozenges... Are you okay?" she asked kindly. Temari nodded again.

"If you say so. But if not, just press that button and we'll send someone up." the nurse smiled again and left. Gaara immediately stood and came to her. She pulled him into a hug and he didn't resist at all.

"Temari, I'm-"

"Mm mm." Temari struggled to say, her hoarse form of 'no'. She only held him tighter. Gaara wasn't the kind of person who could exactly express his emotions freely, but right there, in that moment of silence, everything they wanted to say was communicated. She softly rubbed his hair and he sighed. He pulled away and nudged Kankuro with his foot. Kankuro stirred, then woke up quickly. He jumped to his feet and made his way to Temari. They looked into each other's eyes and Temari expected him to crack a joke in an attempt to make her feel better, but he nearly knocked Gaara out of the way to hug her. And he didn't let go until Gaara pulled him off a few seconds later.

"Don't ever scare us that bad again you idiot!" Kankuro snapped. The sudden outburst shocked Temari, but she saw that Kankuro's eyes held the same pain that Gaara's held, and she couldn't help but let a tear escape her eye. She pulled them both to her and embraced them they way only an older sister could.

Outside of the room, Naruto witnessed the display of emotion and felt a twinge of sadness. He wanted to be there with them, but this was his fault. Plus, he didn't want to face the wrath of the Subaku brothers.

_**'The best thing would be for me to stay away from her. I can't risk her getting hurt like that again. I'll just focus on my training and hopefully I'll be strong enough. Enough to protect the entire world.'**_

_**'... Kit, you're a jinchuuriki. This is the life we face. The ones you love will be put in danger. But yeah, the best thing would be to become stronger, in body and soul, so nothing like this ever happens again.'**_ Kyuubi agreed. Naruto nodded and walked toward the exit, hearing a conversation start up.

"- I'm surprised that Gaara didn't go ballistic." Kankuro halfheartedly laughed.

"Because I have sense enough to know when that is necessary. Doing that only would've delayed the ANBU... and... Uzumaki, from finding Temari." Gaara defended. Naruto smiled a bit.

"Hmm, wonder where the punk is now. He was smart to not show up. If it wasn't for him, we wouldn't be here. He was too weak to stop this before it even started." Kankuro grumbled. Naruto's smile faded as quickly as it had come. Kankuro was right; never again would he put Temari in danger. He turned to leave, but he heard a noise, and a sharp cry of pain come from the room. He forgot all about his resignation and ran into the room.

Kankuro stood there, mouth wide open, eyes staring at his sister, and hands gingerly holding his cheek. Temari sat up, hand still raised and tears in the corners of her eyes.

"Don you eher say somhim lie tha abou Naruo again! You don know how lucky I was for him ta save me Kan'uro! If it weren't for him, I woul still be down there, provaly dead by now! And he isn wea! How coul you expe one person, one genin, to ta on an enire nation?" she cried, struggling to talk with her irritated throat. Naruto immediately ran to her and wrapped his arms around her. She cried into his chest. Kankuro stared at Naruto, shocked that he'd be so bold as to come here.

"I can't believe you're letting this punk come between us!" Kankuro countered, having gotten over his shock. "We've always been a team! No one gave a shit about us! Since that day you forgave Gaara we fought together! Trained together! We did everything together! Now we're in this village and it hasn't even been a week, and you're defending this guy like you grew up with him, not us!" he screamed. Gaara held his head down slightly. Temari was speechless for awhile, absorbing what Kankuro had said.

"But Kan'uro, haven you eher thought wha ih woul be lih? To be imporant in someone else's life besies ours? What it fel lie to be loved, and what it fel like to love?" Temari whispered. Kankuro had no response to that.

"But Tem-"

"Kan'uro, you know tha you and Gaara are the mos imporant people in my life, and I would neher pu anyone ahead of you two. Hell, I practically raised you two. But have you eher though abou wha I wan and need?" she continued. Kankuro was silent. "Please, please neher theen I love you any less, but I need friends and social ineraction, at leas while we're here. Naruto is my friend, and I need you two to see tha. Try to see tha." she pleaded. Kankuro and Gaara looked at each other with uncertainty and reluctantly nodded.

"Okay Tem, if that's what you really want." Gaara said. Temari smiled and looked at Naruto. His face had hesitation written on it.

"Naruo, wha's-"

"No. This isn't right. Temari, I don't want to come between you and your brothers. I've never really had family of my own, so I don't want you to suffer because of me."

"But Naruo, I-"

"Please, don't say anymore. Rest your voice so you can get better." Naruto turned and ran. He ran until he got to his apartment, not allowing himself to even think. But by the time he got there, his mind was a jumble and he could hardly get the door open. When he did get in, he flopped down on his bed and sorted his thoughts.

_**'You sure about this kit?'**_ Kyuubi asked.

_**'Yeah. I can't do that to her. They're obviously all she has, I can't break then apart.'**_

_**'But will it affect your training? You must keep that in mind.'**_

_**'Of course it won't. I've been alone all this time, and I'm just fine right now right? But... if I become stronger, then maybe I'll be able to gain Gaara's and Kankuro's approval. I'll become stronger than them all. Don't you worry Kyuu, I'll be just fine.'**_ Naruto declared. Kyuubi growled in approval, then settled down. Naruto glanced at his clock. It read 5:00. He could get a half hour nap in, then meet Kakashi. He wouldn't be late this time.

_'Mom, dad. Gonna need your help on this one...'_

* * *

><p>"My lord. It seems that Kumo has failed in their attempt to capture the jinchuuriki." Kabuto reported, kneeling.<p>

"Well what do I care Kabuto? That brat isn't my goal. My goal is the Uchiha. But it's such a shame; I thought that team they sent was powerful. I could've used them. Perhaps Iwa won't be so disappointing."

"The exams begin in two days. Are we ready?"

"Are you questioning my ability Kabuto? I am perfectly ready for this. The question is, have you taken care of everything?"

"Forgive me my lord. Yes, everything has been prepped for our departure."

"Good. Then let's go create some havoc, shall we?"

* * *

><p>Next time, the first part of the chuunin exams! The story may get a bit canon, but it will be different, I can guarantee that :) until then, don't forget to review, as it motivates me so much, and happy holidays everyone!<p>

Oh, and if you didn't understand what Temari was saying, message me and I'll translate it into common English through a review (it was confusing haha). You know what? I'll just do it now.

* * *

><p><em>"Don't you ever say something like that about Naruto again! You don't know how lucky I was for him to save me Kankuro! If it weren't for him, I would still be down there, probably dead by now! And he isn't weak! How could you expect one person, one genin, to take on an entire nation?" she cried, struggling to talk with her irritated throat. Naruto immediately ran to her and wrapped his arms around her. She cried into his chest. Kankuro stared at Naruto, shocked that he'd be so bold as to come here.<em>

_"I can't believe you're letting this punk come between us!" Kankuro countered, having gotten over his shock. "We've always been a team! No one gave a shit about us! Since that day you forgave Gaara we fought together! Trained together! We did everything together! Now we're in this village and it hasn't even been a week, and you're defending this guy like you grew up with him, not us!" he screamed. Gaara held his head down slightly. Temari was speechless for awhile, absorbing what Kankuro had said._

_"But Kankuro, haven you ever thought what it would be like? To be important in someone else's life? What it felt like to be loved, and what it felt like to love?" Temari whispered. Kankuro had no response to that._

_"But Tem-"_

_"Kankuro, you know that you and Gaara are the most important people in my life, and I would never put anyone ahead of you two. Hell, I practically raised you two. But have you ever thought about what I want and need?" she continued. Kankuro was silent. "Please, please never think I love you any less, but I need friends and social interaction, at least while we're here. Naruto is my friend, and I need you two to see that. Try to see that." she pleaded. Kankuro and Gaara looked at each other with uncertainty and reluctantly nodded._

_"Okay Tem, if that's what you really want." Gaara said. Temari smiled and looked at Naruto. His face had hesitation written on it._

_"Naruto, what's-"_

_"No. This isn't right. Temari, I don't want to come between you and your brothers. I've never really had family of my own, so I don't want you to suffer because of me."_

_"But Naruto, I-"_

* * *

><p>Okay, hopefully that clears up any confusion. Feel free to ask if something needs explaining. I don't bite :) Oh, don't forget to review, and happy holidays to all!<p> 


	6. Chapter 6

Hey everyone. The beginning of the exams, ready to go. Now, like I said before, this will be kinda canon, but it will be different here and there. So, just bear with me and I'll try to keep you all entertained.

Thank you all for all the reviews and hits. I wouldn't feel motivated to keep doing this without you all :) so, shall we?

Warning: some characters will be a lot stronger than what they were in the original series. Namely Naruto and Temari.

* * *

><p>Chapter 6: Let the Exams Begin!<p>

_Naruto drew his sword and rushed toward the masked man standing in front of him. The man backed up a bit in fear, then drew a kunai and prepared to defend. Naruto swung the sword in an overhead arc, but it was blocked. However, Naruto didn't let up on the sword for a second and smirked._

_"It's the end for you." Naruto said. But it wasn't his voice exactly. His voice was in there, but it was laced with a demonic malice that almost sounded like... Kyuu. A red cloak covered Naruto and collected at his torso. He smiled a sharp, truly wicked smile. The red chakra hardened into a hand and impaled the man. What happened next shocked Naruto. The man seemed to disintegrate, falling into a pile of sand on the ground. Naruto took a couple of steps back as the sand began to rise again. It formed into the shape of a woman. The sand formed her four pigtails before solidifying into a sandy blonde color. The rest formed her curvaceous body. Her perfect, c cup breasts. Her firm, yet soft skin and her not-too-small, not-too-large stomach. Absolute perfection._

_The naked form of Temari stood before Naruto, smiling seductively. She slowly made her way to Naruto, swinging her hips with every step. Naruto was so shocked the cloak of Kyuu faded away and he gulped. When she reached him she stroked his face gently with her right hand. She leaned forward and placed her lips over his. The kiss quickly deepened and Naruto could feel himself falling. He was snapped out of his trance by a sharp pain. He looked down and saw that Temari wasn't there, but a shadowy figure. Even at this closeness he couldn't see any distinguishable features. But what concerned him the most was the kunai that had been stabbed into his stomach, right where his liver should be. He coughed as his vision began to blur, and saw blood fly out of his mouth. He began to slip, deeper and deeper into the darkness. Deeper and deeper..._

* * *

><p>Naruto woke with a start. He sat up and gasped, then coughed violently for a few seconds. He frantically checked his body and bed for any stabs or blood. Seeing none, he got up to get his day started. He felt his forehead, and realized his entire body was covered with sweat.<p>

_'Great... Come on, I can't be getting spooked by a bad dream. I can't afford to be distracted on today of all days.'_ Naruto sighed, going into the bathroom to freshen up.

Naruto emerged from the bathroom a few minutes later, a towel wrapped around his body and his hair soaking wet and down.

_'Hmm, let's go with a messy look today.'_ Naruto thought as he pulled down a cup of instant ramen from his pantry. He prepared the food, then sat down at the table. He held up his chopsticks in silence for a few seconds, then broke them apart.

"Itadakimasu!" he cried and dove in. Being Naruto, it took hardly any time to finish the cup. He threw the empty cup away and went to get dressed. Naruto had planned this since he found out about the exams. He was gonna do something no one would expect from their #1 knucklehead ninja. He opened his closet and pulled out his clothes. A form-fitting black short-sleeved t-shirt, and black cargo pants (like the ones he wears now) with an orange stripe running down each outside of the legs. He looked at himself in the mirror.

_'Almost. One more thing.'_ he thought, walking into the bathroom. He found what he was looking for and poured some of it into his hands. He rubbed the liquid into his hair and vigorously messed it up.

_'The perfect messy look.'_ he smiled. He was ready. In the back of his mind, Kyuu sighed heavily.

**_'Kit, this isn't a fashion show. This is a competition, and you could be killed.'_**

**_'Well then, all the more reason to start acting like a ninja right? My black clothes will let me hide from enemies better, the shirt will let me fight without clothes getting in the way. I don't see the problem.'_** Naruto countered. He grabbed his ninja tool holster and strapped it to his right pants leg, and left. Outside, he saw Sakura waiting for him. He looked at her with a smile, but not as comfortably as he used to. Things were still tense between the two.

"Good morning." they said, although it felt a bit forced. They began walking soon after, to avoid any more awkwardness. They met Sasuke on the main road, and Sakura's eyes instantly lit up.

"Hey Sasuke!" she called out. Sasuke looked up, acknowledging her with a nod. He saw Naruto's new look, and was surprised.

"Different look baka. It's weird, but better than that orange crap." Sasuke smirked. Naruto returned it.

"Shut it teme." he chuckled.

"Well, ready to go?" Sakura asked. Naruto and Sasuke nodded and fell into step behind Sakura.

"So, I heard about Temari. Sorry dobe." Sasuke whispered.

"It's okay Sasuke. I've been avoiding her and her brothers while I become stronger. When I do, I'll gain Gaara and Kankuro's approval and I'll be able to protect Temari-chan." Naruto said.

"Are you sure it's smart to do that?"

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked, turning his head slightly toward the Uchiha.

"Well, if you ignore her like that, then she'll think she did something wrong. Women are most likely to do that, and then spend time trying to correct their "error". In her case, I wouldn't doubt if she's nearly driven herself insane with training." Sasuke sighed. Naruto's eyes widened.

"I... I didn't want that to happen. I need to get stronger. You didn't see what I saw when I went down to get her. It's been messing with my dreams." Naruto sighed.

"Well dobe, just remember that this is just as hard on her as it is on you." Sasuke said. Naruto fell silent, in deep thought.

* * *

><p>"God damnit Kankuro, wake the hell up!" Gaara growled, using his sand to forcefully open the locked door. Kankuro lay in a mess of covers, snoring as if he had all the time in the world. Gaara closed his eyes in irritation and ripped the covers from his brother. Kankuro fell on the floor with a thud and jumped up, ready to fight.<p>

"What the hell Gaara?" Kankuro yelled. But upon seeing the look on Gaara's face he remembered what today was.

"Oh shit!" he yelled, grabbing his clothes and dashing for the bathroom. Gaara sighed in irritation. When would Kankuro grow up? Gaara made his way to check on Temari. Her door was halfway open, so he slowly pushed it open and stepped in. Temari was there, sitting on the windowsill with one leg on it and elbow resting on her knee, seemingly gazing out at the streets below. But Gaara knew better than that. He knew she was gazing at absolutely nothing, except maybe herself. For the past two days she pushed herself harder than she had ever done in her training. In fact, Gaara had to bring her in on her first night out the hospital. This whole thing with Naruto was affecting her greatly, and not for the best. She had become more violent and impatient. Even Gaara knew he had to handle his sister with careful hands now.

"Tema?" Gaara asked gently. Temari sat up fully and turned to him slightly.

"Yeah?" she replied in a quiet voice. She could now form understandable words, but she was still hoarse.

"It's about time to go."

"I know, I'm ready whenever Kankuro gets his lazy ass ready." she said. Gaara nodded and left the room. It devastated him to see Temari like this. He absolutely hated it. And he made the vow then and there to kill anyone in the exams who dared to harm his sister.

About 15 minutes later the sand siblings stood silently outside of their apartment, danger practically radiating off of them. Slowly, they began their walk to the chuunin examination room.

* * *

><p>Inside the classroom where everyone was told to wait stood many teams. Nearly everyone was already there, and the excitement and power fueled the place. Team 7 walked in, pumped and ready to go. They immediately spotted the rest of the rookie 9 and headed over to join them.<p>

"Saaasukeeee~kun!" one of the 9 cried. Sasuke and Sakura turned their heads in irritation as Ino threw herself onto Sasuke and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Ino-pig... get the hell off of Sasuke!" Sakura cried.

"Hmph. Jealous billboard-brow? Sasuke-kun seems to like it. Right, Sa~suke~kun?" Ino cooed, snuggling closer to him. Sasuke, as calmly as he could, reached behind himself and plucked Ino off of his back. He gently set her down and walked off. Sakura smirked.

"Get over it Ino. He's mine." Sakura said, poking Ino's forehead.

"We'll see." Ino huffed, walking back to her teammates.

* * *

><p>The sand siblings walked into the classroom and the attention was immediately on them. Several teams snickered at them and one even stood up.<p>

"Hmm, so the idiots want to start now huh?" Temari whispered.

"If they start something, take them down. But try not to kill them Tema." Kankuro said.

"Oh, so the Suna team is here. And you're practically leaking power. I'm itching to test my power against you three." the apparent leader of a three-man cell said, cracking his knuckles. He wore a headband of a land that Temari didn't recognize, but there was a question mark on the metal. She smiled and stepped up.

"Well fine. But do you really want to do this? If you do, you won't be taking this exam." Temari sneered in the best voice she could muster. She glanced around the room, and sure enough they had quite an audience. She noticed a person with a black t-shirt and black pants watching her. She focused on him more and saw it was Naruto. Her malice drained away for a split second and she gasped, and her opponent used it as an opportunity to attack. He landed a fist in her face, but she quickly regained her balance and jumped. She performed a few quick handsigns and thrust her palm downward toward him. A fierce wind hit him, knocking him to the ground. She flipped in midair and landed her heel on his back. She jumped back and waited. He stood up with great difficulty and pulled out a kunai. He threw it in desperation and smiled. The one kunai turned into ten and sped toward Temari. She smirked and waved her hand in front of her. The kunai harmlessly bounced off an invisible force before it could touch her. Temari jumped once again and grabbed one of the kunai in each hand. She fed her chakra into them and threw them both at high speed. They pierced through her enemy's legs and he fell to the ground, howling in pain. She grabbed two more from the ground and quickly stabbed the knives into his arms. He screamed louder and she grinned. She moved to get more, but his teammates intervened and removed their fallen partner from the room. Temari scoffed then walked back to Gaara and Kankuro, but not before glancing at Naruto. He merely stood there, mouth wide open from the shock of witnessing such power. She had taken down an opponent without much effort whatsoever.

_**'Good Kami, it's like she's another person.'**_

_**'Yeah, better not make her mad. Something tells me she's itching to beat the hell out of you.'**_ Kyuubi said. Naruto nodded in complete agreement.

"Nice. That's one more opponent out of the way. Actually, three. You can't compete in this exam without a three-man squad." a voice said from behind Naruto. Naruto spun around to face a silver haired boy with glasses. He looked plain enough, but Naruto could tell he was probably not a person to have as an enemy. He looked impossibly intelligent. But he wore a leaf headband. Naruto had never seen him before.

"Who are you? I've never seen you around the village." Naruto said suspiciously.

"Well that's no surprise. I'm normally at the hospital, helping out in surgery. I'm Kabuto Yakushi." he said. Naruto remembered that name faintly, and knew it was one of Konoha. So Kabuto had to be an ally right?

"Well hey Kabuto. I'm Naruto Uzumaki!"

"Oh I know who you are Naruto. You're quite popular at the hospital. I don't think anyone has been there more than you." Kabuto laughed. Naruto's mood darkened for a second before he smiled.

"Well, l haven't been in a while, and I don't plan on it. I'm a lot stronger now, so I won't be beat that bad ever again." Naruto declared proudly.

"Well I hope so. You're quite powerful."

"How do you know that?"

"Why, my ninja info cards." he said, pulling out a deck of cards. "They allow me to keep basic tabs on people I've seen. Just ask, and I'll probably have it." Naruto thought for a challenging one.

"Hmm, how about Gaara of the desert?"

"Yup, got him." Kabuto set the cards down on the floor. He placed his index finger in the middle of it and fed his chakra into them. The card on top spun crazily before suddenly stopping. Kabuto lifted the card and sure enough, Gaara's card was there.

"Hmm, not much at all. But it says here that together with his siblings they have completed 7 c-rank missions, 5 b-rank missions, 13 a-rank missions, and 2 s-rank missions. Damn, wouldn't want to cross those kids." Kabuto sighed. Truthfully, he was a bit worried. Naruto was absolutely worried.

_**'How the hell did she get captured with that much power?'**_

_**'Think kit. She may be powerful, but Gaara is even more powerful. And he hosts the Ichibi, an unstable beast. Perhaps it was Gaara who finished many of these missions.'**_

_**'That makes sense.'**_

"How about his sister, Temari?" Naruto asked, her name feeling a bit sad in his mouth.

"Temari, yeah." Kabuto went through the same card finding process, and lifted the top card. His eyes widened and he handed the card to Naruto. Naruto nearly dropped the card. It showed the missions she did, same as Gaara, but this one included a chart showing her strength. Naruto expected a part of the chart to be lower than the other, and even an aspect to be close to max. But every single part of the chart was filled completely.

"H-how is that even possible?" Naruto whispered.

"I don't know. But these cards are current. That's her power as of this second. A few days ago it may not have been like this, but something could have happened to unlock her true power." Kabuto said, glancing at Naruto and reading his every expression. Surprise, shock, guilt, more guilt. Naruto handed Kabuto the card and walked off.

_'I can't do this. I can't get her out of my head. How am I supposed to concentrate like this?'_

Naruto walked toward the sand siblings, who were sitting by the door, looking bored out of their minds. Kankuro felt his presence first. He tapped his siblings, and their full attention was on him. Naruto gulped and kept walking.

"Nice get-up Uzumaki." Kankuro teased. Naruto completely ignored him and grabbed Temari's arm. He pulled her to him in a hug. She was totally stiff, being caught off guard like this. When she did regain her bearings she blew Naruto back with a burst of wind. Naruto fell on his back, hard. He stood up and walked back to her. Temari began to hurl blades of wind at Naruto now with her hand. A cut on his cheek, his arm, his chest, his stomach, his legs. Blood trickled out of the cuts and his clothes were being ruined, but Naruto kept walking. Temari backed up a bit and pulled out a kunai. When Naruto was close enough she lunged, aiming for his heart. Naruto simply caught her hand and held it there. She fought to get free, but Naruto's grip was too strong.

Kabuto watched Temari's card and was surprised to see that her power was going down a bit, back to a more believable level, her normal power, although it was still pretty insane.

Naruto used his other hand to gently remove the kunai from Temari's hand and he threw it on the ground. He looked her in the face and saw her anger and her sadness and closed his eyes. He wrapped his free hand around her waist and pulled her to him, placing his lips on hers. She froze, unsure of what to do. Naruto had done what no other had ever done.

Naruto was beginning to doubt the wiseness of this plan. She hadn't moved an inch. But then again, he wasn't dead, so he figured it could still go either way. He felt a drop of wetness on his cheek and he opened his eyes. Temari's eyes were wide open, and a little red. She was crying, the tears flowing down her cheeks and wetting his. He moved the hand on her waist to her hair. He moved his head back a bit so he could talk.

"Please, please don't cry Temari-hime. I can't bear to see you hurt anymore." Naruto whispered. He could feel her resolve begin to crumble, and he held her tighter. "I know I've hurt you deeply, and you may not forgive me for that. But I thought that if I stayed away it would be better for you and your brothers. But I just made things worse. It's just... when I saw you in that bed, hardly able to talk, it hurt so much. It hurt so much to know that it's my fault that you got hurt." Naruto whispered.

"Naruto, we're shinobi. We face danger every single day. Just because a nation has something against you doesn't mean I wouldn't mind being there with you, facing that danger together." Temari finally whispered back. The entire room was silent, watching the romantic exchange. The moment was ruined, however, by the door suddenly bursting open.

"Alright you maggots! The romance is over! It's time to begin the first stage of the chuunin exams! I'm Ibiki Morino, head of T&I, but today I'm your head proctor. So get your asses into the next room and get seated!" Ibiki commanded. Everyone ran into the next room, already beginning to fear the possible wrath of this man. Naruto pecked Temari on the lips again before she rejoined her brothers, and began to walk into the room himself when he saw Kabuto, standing and glaring daggers at a team walking in. They were a weird bunch. One was tall, with beige bushy hair flowing down his back and a big, metal gauntlet on his right arm. The other two were normal: an average height guy with wild hair and a girl with long black hair that flowed down to her calves. But the weird thing about them was the pure malice that he could feel radiating from them. It made him a bit edgy.

"What the hell happened?" Naruto asked. Kabuto sighed and recounted the events that happened. Apparently when Naruto walked over to Temari that team came up to Kabuto and demanded he tell them about the ninja here. After Kabuto refused, a slight confrontation occurred. The big guy rushed him and Kabuto dodged it completely, but then Kabuto's glasses cracked, his nose bled a little and he threw up.

"Naruto, if I could give you some advice that you haven't received, it would be to watch out for those sound ninja." Kabuto said, walking ahead. Naruto followed him into the room and found a seat beside Hinata. He sat down just as Ibiki began to talk.

"Alright! As you all know, you're here because you've been chosen by your sensei to take the chuunin exams, the selection exam used to determine who will move up the ranks from genin to chuunin. Don't disappoint me. Now, the first part of the exams is the written portion. This test consists of 9 questions which tests your knowledge of essential things a ninja must know to survive out in the world." as he said that, a few men walked around, giving out the tests. "Keep your papers turned down until I say begin, and when we do begin keep your eyes on your own paper. If I catch you even thinking about cheating you will be immediately disqualified from the exam. Got it?" no one dared to complain. "... Good. Begin!" Ibiki yelled. Papers were turned over at once and pencils began working. Naruto looked at his questions and mentally cursed. He didn't know this, he knew nothing of this at all. How the hell would he pass like this?

After 10 minutes of staring intently at the paper, Naruto was about ready to start some cheating of his own.

"N-Naruto." Naruto turned his head ever so slightly toward Hinata. "I-if you'd like, I can show you... my answers." she whispered. Naruto's eyes widened in surprise. She glanced around before sliding her test closer to him. Every question had been answered on her test, and very thoroughly. Naruto's curiosity began to get the best of him and he leaned a bit.

_**'What the hell are you doing?'**_ Kyuu roared. _**'Are you trying to get yourself kicked out? Taking a shortcut like this is not what your parents would want, is it? Idiot.'**_ Kyuu snarled. Naruto quickly straightened up and shook his head. Hinata was shocked for a moment, then she smiled to herself and pulled the paper back.

_'Naruto-kun...'_

Temari looked at her questions with a smirk. These were almost too easy. There were questions like_ 'name every supply a shinobi must have while traveling in the desert.', 'Why are four-man cells ideal for carrying out missions?', and 'If your team is carrying out a mission and a teammate is heavily wounded, what should be done?'_ Temari almost laughed as she filled out her paper.

Of course, no one was oblivious to the cheating going on in the room. All of the children with kekkai genkai were using their abilities to obtain information stealthfully. Even those without clan abilities were using creative methods to get information. She noticed a set of mirrors above a girl in front of her, and the mirrors were connected to her pencil by several thin wires. She moved her pencil, adjusting the mirrors until a guy with a bowlcut in a green jumpsuit adjusted his headband. She stopped the pencil and moved the wires so that they were around a finger on her free hand and she continued to work. She could even hear the faint sound of rustling sand near her ear, and she knew that Gaara was using his third eye technique to peek at her paper. She smirked and kept working.

Even with all the genius cheating going on around the room, there were a few people who weren't so lucky in their quest for information.

"You, and the rest of your team, are done. Get out." Ibiki said, having caught someone cheating. He stood, defeated and walked out, followed by his furious team. Ibiki and the other proctors walked around, disqualifying people left and right and soon, about half of the original examinees remained.

About 30 minutes later they were stopped. Everyone put their pencils down and held their heads up. Naruto was freaking out. He hadn't answered a single question, and time was up.

"Okay, I hope the questions weren't too hard for you pansies. Now, I will give the last question. But before I do, I have something to tell you. You have a choice of whether or not to take this question. If you say no, you can leave now and try again next year. Maybe there will be another proctor. But if you say yes, you must answer it. And if you fail... you will be kicked out, and you will never be able to take this exam ever again. Now, you have one minute to choose." the room was deathly silent, and for a second Naruto thought no one would quit. Then one guy stood up and walked out, followed by his teammates. Then entire squads stood at once, leaving. Once again the number of shinobi was reduced by half. Once time was up Ibiki smirked.

"Wimps. Well then, everyone that is still here..." Naruto gulped nervously. He didn't want to cause the failure of his team. He shivered, just imagining the pure wrath of Sasuke. "... passes." Ibiki declared. It took awhile, but when the realization sunk in there was uproar. Naruto almost fell out of his chair.

"What? Then why would you have us do those initial nine questions? Why not just skip to this?" Naruto heard Sakura ask.

"Well, that's simple. The entire point of this test was to get you all to cheat, but using clever methods that wouldn't get you found out. In survival, it would win you the battle. Now, you are all done here. Go home and rest. Tomorrow, is the second stage. Oh, and say any goodbyes you want to. You may die." Ibiki said. Everyone made to get up and get out of the room away from the man, but not before a figure crashed through the window. She flipped and landed perfectly, not a scratch on her from the glass. She had short purple hair and wore an interesting outfit. A red tank top under a fishnet shirt under a beige jacket, and a beige skirt with a slit on the left side that stopped an inch above her knees over red shorts over slightly longer fishnet shorts. She hit the blackboard with force and it spun to reveal a name.

"Hey kids. I'm Anko Mitarashi, and I'm gonna be your proctor for the second exams. Now, go home and rest, eat, whatever you want. And make sure you eat breakfast. It may be your last one." she said in a sadistic voice that commanded attention. Everyone practically ran out of the room after that. The sand siblings were one of the first to leave. Gaara and Kankuro would not let Temari go talk to Naruto. Naruto was one of the last to leave due to him still being a bit thrown off about passing.

"What do you think?" Anko asked Ibiki.

"About what?"

"You know damn well what I mean! The Suna girl and Uzumaki."

"Oh, that. Well, all I know is that we're keeping tabs on both of them. The girl damn near killed a guy before the exams even began. His team was disqualified because he had to be taken to the hospital. As for Uzumaki, his power is increasing as well at a rapid rate. It's got to be the fox. I wonder if he's formed a bond with it?"

"Ha! Unlikely. You know as well as I do that the damn fox has way too much hatred and bloodlust to be able to form a bond with anything." Anko laughed.

"Perhaps, but I'm just hoping they don't end up killing too many tomorrow. Too much damn paperwork for the hokage to do. And you know how much that man hates that crap. But you wanna know the best part? They both are attracted to each other."

"Well it makes sense. Not much to worry about. But keep an especially close eye on that power the girl is hiding."

"Okay then. Well, see you tomorrow." Ibiki said, walking past Anko. She smiled, watching him go.

_'This is gonna be fun.'_

* * *

><p>"Tema, are you okay?" Gaara asked as they walked back to their apartment.<p>

"Yeah." she quickly lied. She wasn't fine. She was feeling better about the situation with Naruto, but she kept feeling something tugging in the back of her head, almost as if it were trying to grab her.

**_'Ha! Did that fool actually think he could seal me away forever?'_** a gruff voice bellowed.

**_'Who the hell are you?'_** Temari demanded. Her head was swirling now, and she could've sworn she saw a huge cage inside of her head, holding a half black, half white creature. It had to be at least 20 feet tall. It looked like a dragon, only without its wings. It's claws were vicious-looking things: 5 feet long and sharp enough to tear through flesh as if it were a soggy paper bag. It laughed at the question.

**_'Who am I? I should be asking who are you, and why you were chosen to be my host.'_**

**_'Host? What's going on?'_**

**_'...I suppose I should tell you, seeing as you won't be around for much longer. I am Meian, the very embodiment of light and darkness. I'm guessing close to when you were born, seeing as I was sealed into an infant, I attacked Suna out of rage, but I was defeated by the kazekage. Curse that damn gold dust technique.'_**

_'**Wait, you mean my father?'**_ Meian laughed again.

**_'Your father? Well that explains everything!'_**

**_'Okay... but you said I wouldn't be around much longer. How is that?'_**

**_'Simple. As soon as I'm able to completely take over your body, your soul will cease to exist. I'm sure you can tell. My pure chakra has been able to reach you, but now my dark chakra is beginning to join it right?'_**

**_'Shut up! Like I'd ever let you take my body! I will fight you with every single breath I have!'_** Temari screamed.

**_'We'll see. But no human that has been my host was able to tame me. What makes you think you can?'_**

**_'Because I just can. No special reasons, except the fight for my soul.'_** Meian sighed.

_**'You humans are all the same. Ignorant, weak, and you all overestimate yourselves and underestimate me. You'll end up just like the rest you idiot.'**_ The image of Meian faded away and Temari found herself kneeling on the sidewalk, Gaara and Kankuro staring at her with great worry.

"Tema? Tema, get ahold of yourself. What's wrong?" Kankuro asked, gripping her shoulders tightly.

"N-nothing. I need to go lay down though. Gaara, do you think you can carry me?" Temari asked.

"I can do it just fine! Gaara, go get Baki. Remember what he told us after Tema came home from the hospital? If Temari were to even show signs of getting sick, to come get him immediately." Gaara nodded and dissolved into sand. Kankuro easily lifted Temari and adjusted her so that she was on his back. He sped off toward their apartment.

* * *

><p>Baki sat under a tree, head propped up against the trunk and eyes closed. He was at full attention however, when he felt Gaara's chakra signature near him.<p>

"Gaara, what's wrong?" Baki asked, fearing the answer.

"I-it's Temari. She's not feeling well." Baki was immediately on his feet and practically dragging Gaara back to the apartment.

_'Damn damn damn. I hope it's not him. He normally doesn't start fighting back this early.'_

When they got there, Temari was laying on the sofa, a wet towel on her forehead and Kankuro right beside her.

"Baki, you're here. What do we-"

"You and Gaara get out of this room. Now." Baki commanded in a frightening tone. Kankuro stood there at first, not sure what to do. But he reluctantly walked out of the room with Gaara following. Baki knelt beside Temari and performed some handsigns. He placed his right hand on her head and fed some purple colored chakra into her body. After a few minutes, Temari stopped looking so pained and after about 10 minutes, she slipped into slumber. Baki's hand dropped and he wiped his forehead, beaded with sweat from the ritual.

_'It gets harder every time. I don't know how much longer I can keep this up. I knew this was a bad idea.'_ he sighed irritably, standing up. He effortlessly lifted Temari and carried her to her bed.

* * *

><p><em>The kazekage stood on top of the kazekage mansion, holding a bundle. Karura stood next to him, with a look of fear and suspicion on her face.<em>

_"I've decided. I will implant the chakra into her." Karura's face now read shock._

_"No, you can't do that to her. Not our little girl." Karura said._

_"What other choice do we have Karura? We're still trying for the perfect container for Shukaku, and when he's born, the eldest sibling is supposed to have that power to control him. She was born without it. There's no other way, we have to. Or have you forgotten your duties?"_

_"Of course not." Karura quickly answered with an air of irritation. "But, how will you even go about doing it?"_

_"You know we've captured Meian. I shall seal him into her. That should be good enough," Karura snatched Temari from her husband and backed up. The infant began to sniffle, and Karura began to rock her and whisper soothing words. Temari never was one to cry much, even as a baby, so she fell asleep with minimal effort._

_"Karura, don't do this."_

_"No, there's no way in hell I'm letting you seal that thing into my baby!" Karura hissed under her breath, shielding Temari with her body. The Kazekage sighed._

_"Karura, it must be. Please forgive me, but I must think for the village's safety." he snapped his fingers and a couple of Suna ANBU surrounded Karura. The Kazekage snapped his fingers and one stepped up, with a hawk mask on, and delivered a quick chop to Karura's neck. She instantly fell, unconscious, into the other ANBU's arms. The one who delivered the blow pried Temari from her mother's arms, and handed her to her father._

_"Good. Take Karura to her room, and Hawk, go and notify Lady Chiyo. The sealing will take place in one hour." the second one immediately left. Hawk turned to his leader and knelt._

_"My lord. Are you sure this is what you want to do? What if something were to happen and Lady Karura miscarries your next children? Have you thought of the possible consequences?" Hawk asked. He found himself in the iron grip of the gold dust. He was slammed into the nearest building with such force that his mask shattered and he coughed up blood._

_"You'd do best not to advise me on my own family matters Baki. And I do NOT want you speaking such horrid things. If something like that... were to ever happen, I'd kill you myself. Now, go do what I've told you to do." the Kazekage spat, releasing his hold on Baki. Baki picked himself up and limped off. After standing in the same spot for a couple of minutes, the ruler of Suna made his way to the sealing chamber under the hospital where he would seal a monster into his daughter._

* * *

><p>When Temari woke up a few hours later she had a splitting headache. She groaned and sat up slowly. She realized she was in her room of the apartment and briefly wondered how she got there.<p>

_'Gaara or Kankuro must've brought me back.'_ she dismissed the thought and moved to get up.

"Temari. Lay back down." Temari snapped her head to the right to see Baki sitting in a chair.

"Baki-sensei? Why are you here?" Temari asked a bit suspiciously.

"We need to talk." the serious tone in his voice made her on edge.

"About what?"

"You."

"Me? Why?"

"You heard me. You know that you are the first born of your parents, and you are the oldest. Being Gaara's sister means you-"

"-have pure chakra. So what?" Temari finished for him.

"That's just it. You were born without those abilities. It's rare in the siblings of jinchuuriki, but it has happened." Baki said.

"What are you talking about? I have pure chakra." Temari said, holding out her hand and proceeding to let the white energy fill it. The room glowed brightly before Temari relaxed again.

"I want you to use that as less as possible. Like I said, you did not have that power when you were born. But a monster, Meian, who is the product of a pure chakra being and a dark chakra being, was sealed into you. Lord Kazekage captured him after he attacked the village."

"But why would a pure chakra being attack Suna?" Temari asked, getting a little scared. It seemed her encounter wasn't her imagination.

"Well, the answer to that is... Meian gave in to his dark chakra and was overpowered by it. You have had pure chakra since the day he was sealed in you, but now his dark chakra is beginning to take over. That's why I was assigned to your team. I'm the only one in Suna with the technique to suppress him. So every day I will perform the technique as you sleep, to make sure he doesn't try anything." Baki said. Temari was silent for awhile, letting the information sink in, then she stood up against Baki's suggestion. She began pacing rapidly and in short bursts. She'd walk about 5 steps, then turn and repeat. The way a predator inspects its next meal.

"So, because I was born without pure chakra, a threat to a possible jinchuuriki my mother would have, my father found it appropriate to seal a monster into his infant daughter?" Temari asked, sorting her thoughts.

"Yes. But, please understand. Your father is the Kazekage. He had to also think of the safety of the village." Baki defended. A chuckle found its way out of Temari's mouth, then it turned into a full laugh.

"The village?" she asked, still laughing. "You mean that piece of sand shit that has done absolutely nothing for me or my brothers? The village that sealed a monster into me? The same village that took my mother to place a demon in my unborn brother? The same one that watched us be trained mercilessly every single day, watched us be punished and abused, and did nothing? Don't talk to me about the safety of that place. I couldn't care less." Temari scoffed. "My job is to worry about Gaara and Kankuro. Do you know how much we've been through? You should, seeing as you're our sensei. But if the village comes before us to our father, then fine... Leave my room Baki. I want to be alone." Temari ordered.

"But, I need to monitor -"

"I said get out!" Temari screamed in a chilling voice. The voice she learned how to use in order to be the heir of a powerful family like hers. Baki was momentarily shocked, mostly because she had dared to disobey him. But he also knew she hated to use that commanding voice. And it did intimidate him. He stood without another word and left. Temari sat down on her bed and allowed her mind to roam free. She had many questions, but one of the top ones was _'how will it feel? Getting your soul taken away?'_ the gears in her mind spun and spun until she couldn't take it anymore. She got up and made her way to Kankuro's room. He was fast asleep, snoring up a storm. She fixed his covers and readjusted his head quickly but gently, so he wouldn't wake up (waking up a brutally trained ninja was a bad idea). She smiled and pecked him on the forehead before leaving. She walked next door to Gaara's room. As expected, he was sitting on his windowsill, gazing out at the dark town.

"You're up. Are you okay now?" Gaara asked softly.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks for taking care of me."

"It's the least I can do. For all you've done for us." Gaara said. Silence fell upon the siblings until Temari worked up the nerve to ask him the question that had been burning in her mind.

"How does it feel?"

"How does what feel?" Gaara asked, turning to face Temari.

"When Shukaku tries to take over. What's it like?" Temari asked. Gaara was caught off guard, but he thought about it for awhile.

"...No one's ever asked me that, but if I had to ask, it's like hell. It feels like someone wrapped chains around you and is trying to pull you into the ground. At the same time it feels like all your hope, all your reason, all your happiness, is being sucked down a drain. Then it feels like a fire has been lit under you, and you're going to burn to death. But you don't. It just keeps burning. Then it feels like a great force has grabbed your arms and is tearing your body apart. The pain is so great you'd probably fall unconscious if someone didn't help you. And every time that would happen to me, you'd be there to save me." Gaara explained. The vivid description frightened Temari. She wasn't a fan of burning.

"Why do you ask Temari?" Gaara asked.

"Well..." Temari said, and proceeded to tell Gaara everything Baki had said. When she finished, Gaara looked so shocked.

"That bastard! How dare he do this? Shukaku... has tried to take my soul many times, so I'm somewhat used to the pain. But the first time, I wanted to just die. I even tried to end my life, but the sand protected me. I would only wish my pain on my worst enemy. But to think you are about to start feeling it, pisses me the hell off." Gaara growled.

"Gaara, calm down. Let's just rest so we can get through these exams. But... I need you to promise me one thing."

"What is it?"

"At the first sign of me losing myself, I want you to stop me. If you can't do it without killing me, kill me." Temari said. Gaara looked at his sister like she had gone completely mad.

"I... I can't do that Tema. How do you expect me to kill you, of all people?"

"Gaara, please! If Meian gets out I'm not sure how bad it'll be. I don't want you or Kankuro to get hurt... And if I had to be killed, I'd choose you to kill me. It'd be a quick and painless death."

"Tema, I... okay. You have my word." Gaara said reluctantly. Temari smiled and kissed him on the cheek before running off to her room. She laid across her bed and drifted off, anxious about the exams.

_'How the hell can she expect me to kill her? She's my sister... and the closest thing to a mother I have.'_

* * *

><p>A figure emerged from the shadows and turned a small dial on a device on his ear. It was an eavesdropping device of some sort.<p>

_'Good. The transmitter seems to be working perfectly. I better go report this to Lord Orochimaru. This girl could be of use to us.'_ Kabuto phased into the ground, and was gone without a trace.

* * *

><p>So... whatcha think? Please leave a review and let me know. And please tell others about this story, they may like it, and a tad bit more reviews would make me uber happy. Until next time :)<p> 


	7. Chapter 7

The second exams, ready to go. Now, I'm gonna be following my own little storyline here, in that Team 7 won't be the focus team, but the Sand Siblings will. So I hope you enjoy :)

* * *

><p>Chapter 7: The Second Exam 1<p>

_Temari stood in a field of bright white light. The light slowly dimmed, and revealed the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen. She was surrounded by a lush field, miles of flowers of every type growing everywhere. There was no one in sight, and she loved the isolation. She explored the area, picking up her favorite flowers and smelling them. Roses, chrysanthemums, daisies, even the rare desert lily was there. She remembered her childhood hunts for the flower and her excitement as she showed them to the villagers. They'd smile and pat her on the head, or say something like 'very pretty Lady Temari', or 'Such a wonderful plant'. But when they thought she couldn't hear them their attitudes were completely different._

_'That brat continues to pluck those flowers as if they are infinite in number.'_

_'She's gonna ruin the most beautiful thing about this dry land.'_

_'How could she even be allowed to do that?' these were the things the elderly women discussed on their porches when Temari wasn't around. At least when they thought she wasn't around. But being the sister of Gaara had its advantages. He'd ask her about the comments, and she'd remember who said what and plan revenge on them._

_'Father did say that my drive for revenge was the only thing that made me like him.' Temari bitterly thought, holding one of the lilies._

_"Temari? Do you like it here?" a voice asked from behind her. She turned to see her favorite Konoha ninja standing in the center of the field._

_"Naruto. I love it here, it's so beautiful." she breathed. In a flash, Naruto was in front of her, cupping her chin._

_"Just like you Tema." and he closed the distance between them. It was a gentle, but needy kiss. Almost as if Naruto had been away for months. The kiss quickly heated as Naruto began to run his hands over her body. She gasped, and looked into his eyes. They seemed... darker than usual._

_"Naru-kun?"_

_"Shh. Don't talk. Just stay here, with me, forever."_

_"But wait... this isn't the real world." whoa, since when did this dream become so real?_

_"But it could be. Imagine you and me, spending the rest of our lives here." Naruto dreamily sighed._

_"Naruto, I can't. I can't leave Gaara and Kankuro, and the exams. Oh no, that's today!" Temari shouted, looking for a way out. Naruto sighed heavily._

_"Too bad. You could've died happy." a demonic voice said. The voice of Meian. The image of Naruto melted into a black pool of nothingness, which then began to spread over the land, turning everything into nothing. Far below, Temari could see a mighty pit of fire with Meian fighting to escape the chains that bound him there. Although the flames danced dangerously close to the surface, Temari felt a chill go down her spine._

_"Meian! Stop this!" she pleaded as the only area left, about a 3 feet diameter around her, was slowly consumed by the dark. She began to panic. If this land disappeared, she'd become Meian's sacrifice to return to full power, no doubt about it. 2 feet diameter. Temari thought over and over again: 'Why is there so much hate in Meian?' 'Why him?' 'Why me?' 1 foot left. She was ready to resign herself to her fate, to give up._

_'I'm sorry Gaara, Kankuro.'_  
><em>'I'm sorry Baki.'<em>  
><em>'I'm sorry... Naruto.' she whispered, and she fell.<em>

* * *

><p>It was a short fall, because Temari woke up, screaming. She realized that she was no longer falling, but safe in her room, and relaxed a bit.<p>

"Temari... are you okay?" Gaara's calm voice asked from beside her. Temari turned to fully face her little brother.

"Y-yeah. Um... did you-" Temari started. Gaara simply nodded and she understood.

"How exactly did you save me? You don't have pure chakra."

"Yeah, but I can manipulate gold dust. Remember before you could control your pure chakra the kazekage used it to calm Shukaku." Gaara explained.

"I see... Thanks. I'll get dressed now. We do have the second exam today." Gaara nodded once again and left, glancing at Temari again as if afraid she'd vanish into thin air. Temari shakily stood up and forced herself to move.

'I'm still shaking. It was worse than I thought.' Temari thought. She sighed as she tried to steady the kimono in her hands. After a few seconds of no results, she threw the clothing onto her bed and sat down.

"Baki!" she called. It took Baki no longer than 30 seconds to show up. He immediately entered the room and observed Temari's hands shaking.

"Meian?" he asked. She nodded and he got to work. He formed a few handsigns and placed his hands on either side of her head. Immediately Temari felt relief as her shaking began to stop. Next she felt chakra entering her head, penetrating deep into her subconscious mind.

"No, not this technique again!" Meian growled. Was that a hint of fear in his voice? The chakra reached him and he howled in pain as chains shot out of the ground and pinned him down. Meian struggled greatly against the chains, but Baki's jutsu was more powerful.

"Damn it!" Meian snarled as he lay flat against the ground.

'Is this what happens every time that jutsu is used? No wonder Meian wants to kill his hosts and seek vengeance.' Temari couldn't help but think. She wanted to do something, but she didn't know what would happen to the current technique if she interrupted it. Would Meian break free anyways? Temari tuned out the sounds until Baki was finished.

"Thank you Baki. Now, I must get dressed." Temari said. Baki nodded and quickly left the room. Temari picked up the kimono and headed into the bathroom.

* * *

><p>Naruto was an excited little ninja. The exams didn't start until 10, but he had gotten up at 5 to bathe, eat a large breakfast composed of oatmeal and the various cereals he owned, and get an hour of training in. He was more than ready to go and show them all his techniques, the ones he spent the past weeks learning. Naruto decided to wear something familiar. He wore a jumpsuit just like his normal one, only it was all black with an orange stripe on the outer side of each pants leg. He wore his hair the normal way as well. Satisfied with his look, Naruto locked up and headed toward the Forest of Death.<p>

_**'Hey kit.'**_

_**'What's up Kyuu?'**_

_**'Be particularly careful today. This will be the most challenging of the exams. The forest of death isn't to be taken lightly. There are creatures in there that you think only exist in nightmares, but they are real as we are. I also feel dark chakra.'**_

_**'Got it. Don't worry though Kyuu. I'm more than ready to do this. I got one of mom's and dad's techniques. I can take on anything they throw at me.'**_

_**'Good. Remember your training.'**_ Kyuu said as Naruto burst into the clearing. There were already a few ninja waiting there, but none from Konoha. Maybe they got an early start so they wouldn't get lost on their way and end up late. Naruto stood off to the side and waited for his team to arrive.

* * *

><p>By the time it was 9, nearly every ninja was there. Sasuke and Sakura stood on either side of him, waiting for Anko to begin talking. Sakura would move closer to Sasuke every once in a while, but Sasuke would shoot her a glare and she'd move back to her place. Naruto chuckled softly at his friend's discovery of how to keep those fangirls at bay. He spotted the sand siblings and he knew he had to talk to Temari. He made his way toward them, even ignoring the glares he got from Gaara and Kankuro as he neared their sister.<p>

"Hey Temari." Naruto said. Temari smiled and hugged him. As soon as she did though, Naruto felt several red flags go off in his head. There was a huge source of dark chakra, coming from the blonde beauty. He immediately grabbed her hand and led her away.

"Naruto? What's going on?" Temari demanded. Then she felt it. Naruto's chakra was going crazy, trying to enter her body. But Naruto was keeping it at bay. The realization sunk in quickly. He knew about the dark chakra in her! Naruto led her well away from the others and stopped. He let go of her and took a couple of steps back.

"Why is there a huge source of dark chakra coming from you?" Naruto asked, not beating around the bush. Temari sighed before telling him the story of Meian.

"Are you gonna kill me?" she asked quietly when she finished. The fact that Naruto hesitated hurt. "Well?" she asked a bit more irritably.

"I'm sorry Tema. I was just thinking. I was born to eradicate dark chakra. I don't know what will happen. I don't want to kill you, but if you pose a threat to the village then I have to. I hope you can understand." he explained. Temari masked her face before answering.

"Yeah, I totally understand. But Meian would have to take over my body first, and I told Gaara to kill me if that happens." she said without much emotion. She turned to walk back to her brothers.

"Temari, I'm sorry. I wish I could avoid it, but even now my chakra is going crazy. I don't know what would happen if I-"

"Naruto. We should be getting back. Anko-sensei will start talking any minute." and without another word she left. Naruto groaned before returning to his teammates. Sasuke looked at him with confusion. Thankfully Sakura had gotten distracted by something else.

"I have pure chakra. I was born to destroy dark chakra sources. Temari has a half dark chakra, half pure chakra being sealed into her. I told her if she posed a threat then I'd have to kill her." Naruto said. Sasuke just looked at him before sighing heavily.

"Naruto, you are about the biggest idiot I've ever known. Never, EVER, tell a girl you like that you may have to kill her. Even if she has dark chakra. Ever look at yourself dobe? You have some of that dark chakra yourself with that fox and all." Sasuke explained. Now that he heard it, he felt like the biggest idiot in the universe. Sasuke was of course right. There was a nice amount of dark chakra in him as well. How could he not know that?

"Damnit!" Naruto groaned. When would he get this right? Just then, everyone fell silent and Naruto turned to see Anko standing up on the roof of a small cart. She commanded attention, and it was given to her.

"Hey! Nice to see everyone alive. I can guarantee that will change after today though. Anyways, this is the second chuunin exams. The objective here is to collect two scrolls and safely get them, and your entire team to the building roughly in the center of the forest. There are 26 scrolls, so only 13 teams can pass. Each team will receive a heaven or earth scroll at random. You are to take the other scroll from another team by any means. Now, you see those tables around? Go to the ones on the left of me to sign release forms stating that we aren't responsible for your deaths, blah blah blah. Then when you're done, go to the tables to the right to sign your team in and receive your scroll." Anko said. Everyone ran to the release form tables, then to the scroll tables as instructed, then back in front of Anko. Naruto looked at the symbol on their scroll. They had the Heaven scroll. He looked around for anyone who might have had the Earth scroll. He spotted several teams, and a weaker looking one from the grass village. He also noticed that the sand siblings had an Earth scroll and made a mental note to not cross their path. He had the feeling they wouldn't hold back on him for all his mistakes.

"Okay. Everyone go to their designated gate around the forest and get ready! And one piece of advice: just don't die!" Anko demanded. The sand siblings made their way to Gate V and stood there in silence. Kankuro took notice of his sister's silence and sighed.

"The hell did he do now?" Gaara demanded before Kankuro could ask.

"I told him about Meian. He was apparently born to destroy dark chakra, and he said that if I pose a threat to others, he may have to kill me." Temari said as if it were nothing.

"Meian? What's that?" Kankuro asked, and Temari realized she hadn't told Kankuro about the demon. She sighed and gave a quick version of the story, carefully gauging Kankuro's reactions. Shock, anger, pain, more anger.

"I swear if I see that brat in here, he's first on my list." Kankuro growled.

"Just focus on remembering our training. We should be done in no time at all. This seems almost too easy." Gaara said.

* * *

><p>Team 7 made their way to Gate K and waited. It was five minutes from 10 now. Five minutes until all of his training would be put to the test. Naruto took several deep breaths and did a few jumping jacks to loosen himself up.<p>

"Nervous?" Sasuke asked. Naruto nodded a bit.

"Well, as long as you've put everything into your training, we should be fine. I think we can make up for Sakura's slack." Sasuke said with great annoyance.

"Sasuke that's mean. I have been training." Sakura pouted. Sasuke clenched his fists, but loosened them.

"With all of your stalking, how did you manage anything? What exactly did you learn?" Sasuke asked.

"Well I have great stamina and chakra control."

"Sakura, it takes more than that to be a ninja. Any techniques?" Sasuke asked. Sakura thought for a while.

"Hmm, maybe I should've learned a few... Ooh! I can do the substitution technique."

"But no offensive skills?" Sasuke asked through his teeth. He got up and started to pace. "Sakura, you're dragging this team down. Either you act like a ninja or I'm gonna leave you in that forest to fend for yourself. Not a single technique? Jeez, we'd be better off with Ino and her clan's techniques." Sasuke growled.

"It's okay Sasuke. The only thing you'd better be worried about is when I'm gonna surpass you. I've been training my ass off, and I can't wait to show my new skills." Naruto snickered. Sasuke glared at his rival before smirking as well.

"You're on dobe. Let's see if you can keep up with me."

_**'How sweet of you kit. Diverting Uchiha's attention away from her like that. Don't tell me you still have a thing for her.'**_ Kyuu teased.

_**'Kyuu, shut the hell up. I don't have a thing for her anymore. I just don't want our team falling apart before the damn exam even starts! But it wouldn't kill her to learn a few techniques.'**_ Naruto admitted.

_**'You're right. She wouldn't be worthy of bearing your kits.'**_

_**'Kyuu! What the hell?'**_ Naruto yelled, turning beet red.

_**'Well that's how we are. We look for mates who have good traits to pass on to the next generation.'**_

_**'Well I'm not a fox, so leave me out of that process.'**_ Naruto said with finality. Kyuubi laughed and went to say something else, but an alarm sounded and the gates opened. Naruto immediately shut the communication off as he sped into the forest, Sasuke and Sakura on either side of him. How he wished he could show off his new skills...

* * *

><p><em>-3 days earlier-<em>

_Naruto was bored, and he'd done everything in the scrolls so far. So his impulsiveness took over. He picked up and opened the second scroll from his father and read it._

_'Naruto, if you've followed my directions in the first scroll, then you should have an incredible amount of stamina and chakra control by now. Now I can tell you how to do it. The Flying Thunder God Technique is how I got the nickname "The Yellow Flash". Now, I kept all of my specialty kunai inside of this scroll, to hide from unwanted eyes. If you flip the scroll over, you'll see it. Inside of this scroll are 5 of my kunai. Study the markings. Memorize them so well that you could say them in your sleep. Being an Uzumaki already gives you an advantage in sealing, but only one with the blood of a Namikaze can do this. Once you memorize those markings, try to touch something and feed your chakra into it. At the same time, try to send those markings with it. Just visualize it exiting your body from the point of contact. Once you've done that, concentrate and get ready to be transported. It will happen only when you want it to happen, so it's really handy. One thing though. You must be ready to strike. Some stronger enemies may not fall for it twice. But on the off chance you can't do the touch method, you can always use my kunai. But if you do, never, EVER, leave those kunai behind. I have many enemies my son, so the kunai cannot fall into enemy hands. Even if only Namikazes can do it, they'll probably devise a counterattack against it. Good luck in your training Naruto. And between me and you, I stopped writing in my journal after the first one. So I had to improvise a bit. I did as best as I could in recalling techniques in my training, but it was frustrating. So I basically have the training part as a journal entry, and how to do the technique as a normal scroll like this. Well, see ya next week. Oh, and being my son you probably opened the scroll ahead of time didn't you? Well, don't tell your mother I said this, but you can read ahead, but only if you've mastered every detail from the previous scroll.'_

_Naruto chuckled at his father's actions, but then he got serious. His father was right of course. His mom's scroll told him how to do really cool things with symbols and markings. How to make it so only certain people could even see the symbols, and how to make symbols with just one touch. He opened the scroll all the way then turned it over. Sure enough there were the markings of a sealing scroll. Naruto unsealed the scroll and five oddly shaped kunai lay before him. He picked one up, examining the three sharp points on it. He then looked at the handle and found those markings his dad was talking about. They were a bit complex, but nothing Naruto couldn't memorize. He sat down on his bed and got to work memorizing them._

_-the next day-_

_Naruto had studied the markings for 4 hours straight. He was sure he got them, but he kept studying to make sure. When he finally stopped, he immediately moved on to the next step. He touched his bed and fed some chakra into it. Next, he tried to get the markings onto the bed. It was working! Naruto got the first half of the markings onto the bed but he got too excited and his concentration broke. The symbols vanished. Naruto groaned and started again._

_After a pattern of almost doing it and getting too excited, Naruto finally succeeded in getting the markings onto his bed. Naruto then ran to the other side of the room. He focused on that one place and formed the ram handsign. He immediately felt space being manipulated around him and he crouched down a bit, kunai in hand. In 3 seconds he was by his bed, kunai ready to stab the stuffing out of it. He relaxed and stood up, immensely proud at his accomplishment. He couldn't wait to show everyone. He looked at the scroll and saw there were some words he skipped._

_'Naruto, please don't use that technique unless you are on an assassination mission, or as a last resort.' Naruto groaned. Last resort? Probably because the enemy would know he has a connection to his father and come after him. Naruto reluctantly accepted the terms._

* * *

><p>As soon as the gate opened, the sand siblings took to the trees, immediately searching for a victim... opponent, who had the heaven scroll. All three were ready and itching for a fight.<p>

"Gaara, you getting anything?" Kankuro asked. He knew Gaara would use his sand and his third eye technique to locate a team.

"There's a team to the right of us. They're a group of rain village ninja. Easy pickings." Gaara said in a slightly bloodthirsty voice. Temari glanced at Kankuro in uncertainty and he just shrugged.

'I really hope it's not "him" again. I thought Gaara could suppress him.' Temari thought.

When they landed in a small clearing, a group of three stood at the opposite end.

"Well well, what do ya know? A group of Suna ninja. Oh, and they were so kind as to bring us the Earth scroll. Now kids, if you would be so kind as to set that down in front of us, we may even let you live." The one closest to then said. Obviously the leader. The sand siblings stood in a triangle formation, Gaara closest to the enemy. Gaara stepped up, arms folded across his chest and completely silent.

"Hey kid. Are you deaf? Drop the scroll or I won't hold back!" Gaara remained silent. "Fine! If that's how you want it." the ninja pulled out several senbon needles and hurled them at Gaara. He smirked as they sped toward Gaara, but was utterly shocked as a small wall of sand rushed to Gaara's aid. It effortlessly blocked the needles, and they fell to the ground.

"Shigure! Use it!" another teammate called out. So the leader's name was Shigure. Shigure smirked and pulled three umbrellas out of a holster on his back. He tossed them into the air and performed several handsigns.

"Senbon shower!" he yelled. A shower of needles descended toward the battlefield. Gaara simply looked at the onslaught of weapons and smirked. Shigure was proud of his work and smiled in triumph when they hit Gaara. But of course, they didn't work. When the black screen of needles cleared, there was a ball of sand in the middle of the field. Gaara stood in it, glaring at Shigure as the needles stuck out in various places in his shield.

"So I see you made it rain needles. I have a better idea. Let's make it rain blood instead." Gaara snarled. Shigure took a few steps back.

"B-but how?" Shigure asked, horrified that his techniques didn't work.

"Because you idiots, that's Gaara's ability. If he's threatened, the sand will always rush to help him. Weapons won't work on any of us really. You were dumb to try a second time when you saw how it turned out the first time. Now you're gonna die." Kankuro teased.

"Sand coffin!" As if on cue, Gaara sent his sand to Shigure, where it proceeded to wrap him tightly, to the point of immobility. Gaara held his right arm out with his hand making a choking motion. He slowly lifted his arm, raising Shigure off of the ground. He walked over and picked up all three umbrellas, tossing one each to his siblings before opening up the third over his own head.

"Sand burial!" Gaara said, squeezing his hand shut. The sand crushed Shigure, sending his blood raining down on the battlefield. The red liquid stained the grass, the trees, the umbrellas, and his teammates.

"Don't worry. It was a quick death. I used more force than necessary. The corpse's crimson tears flow into the never ending sand, feeding the chaos within me." Gaara said. The one who'd spoken before stepped up and put the scroll down.

"Please, let us go. We're giving you the heaven scroll, see? Please let us go." he pleaded, stepping back.

"Idiots. Like we'd let you live." Temari said, stepping up. The two frightened men seemed to get a grip when they saw Temari step up, and they both drew senbon.

"You're underestimating us! You think this girl can beat us? We'll show you. For Shigure!" they threw the weapons at Temari. They harmlessly passed through her body, as if she wasn't even there. She turned and picked up two senbon from the ground and threw them. The needles sailed through the air and pierced a leg of each of them. They hissed in pain before removing the bloody weapons.

_**'Time to end this.'**_ Temari said, phasing into the very air itself. Her opponents frantically looked around, searching for her.

_**'Yes, let's see some bloodshed. Make their worthless bodies cry crimson tears like Shigure's!'**_ Meian growled.

_**'Yes, that sounds wonderful.'**_ Temari materialized behind one of them and grabbed him in a stranglehold. He fought to get free, but to no avail against Temari's sudden monstrous strength. She took a senbon from his pocket and began to drag it along the surface of his skin. Small droplets of blood collected at the slits before sliding down and dripping to the ground. The smell of his blood excited her, and Temari cut deeper. The other rain ninja could do nothing but watch as his screaming teammate was tortured. He knew he could do nothing against this girl, this... demon. No one dared to stop Temari as she slowly sliced up her prey's skin. She continued for only a couple of minutes, but by the end of it, the skin was unrecognizable. The fighting and clawing slowed and the cries of pain died down. Temari dropped him only when his entire body went limp.

"The pain was so great he died..." Kankuro whispered in horror. Even Gaara was silent, he wasn't even moving. Temari kicked her first victim aside and turned to the other. She stalked toward him and he backed up with every step she took.

"Please, have mercy. Please."

Temari snickered manically and reached for him. But something beat her to it. Gaara's sand enveloped the man and immediately crushed him, the blood splattering on Temari. She turned and snarled at her brother, she even took a few steps toward him. But apparently the shock of having her prey taken away forced her back to normal. She fell to her knees, clutching her head.

"Tema!" Kankuro called, running to her. Temari felt like her body was on fire, like she was falling into an endless pit. She could barely move, almost as if chains were wrapped around her, absorbing every drop of her willpower, her strength and her happiness. And to top it all off, she felt like someone was trying to tear her apart, molecule by bloody molecule. She screamed a horrifying, bloodcurdling scream.

"Temari! Just hold on okay?" Kankuro said frantically, trying to remember what Baki told him to do in case something bad happened to Temari in the exams.

"K-Kankuro. No, l-let me handle this. I can't let you do that to him." Temari managed before screaming in pain again. Gaara stepped up, moving Kankuro out of the way.

"Kankuro, go keep watch. Temari, what do you mean 'him'? That thing's trying to take over your body! Let me stop him." Gaara tried to reason.

"Gaara, every time he's suppressed, he comes back twice as angry and strong. I understand why he's so angry and wants revenge. It's because of Baki's clan. They've used that technique on him for years. And I'm sure that even the gold dust and the variation of that jutsu that Baki taught Kankuro will hurt him. I don't to hurt anymore, and I don't want Meian to hurt anymore." Temari said.

_**'You hear that Meian? My dad pisses me off just as much as he pisses you off, so I don't want you to hurt anymore. I won't allow anyone to hurt you anymore. Hell, if it pisses my father off, sign me up.'**_ Temari said. Meian was silent for a second.

_**'I don't need your protection woman!'**_

_**'And you may be right. You're immensely more powerful than I am, but I want to help you. I want to help you get rid of all of that hatred that you feel. I want to get revenge on my father for what he's done to you, and me and my brothers. Let's just work together.'**_

_**'And what's in it for me?'**_

_**'Well for one, you get a free ride. Well not exactly free, but you get my point. We can get to my father a lot easier than if you were alone. And three, the gold dust technique has no effect whatsoever on me. One of your weaknesses.'**_ Temari explained. Meian thought it over for awhile. It really wasn't that bad of a deal. He remembered when he heard Temari groan in pain.

_**'Hmm, fine then. I'll accept your offer girl. But if this goes wrong, you're dead.'**_ Meian snarled, retreating from Temari's soul.

_**'Of course big guy.'**_ Temari smirked.

_**'This is the first time someone actually stopped that damn technique for me. Maybe, just maybe, I've found that destined host that mother told me about.'**_

* * *

><p>Temari found herself on the ground, looking up into the worried eyes of Kankuro. She rose up and looked around. The first thing she saw: blood, and lots of it. She was covered in it as well.<p>

"Did I do this?" Temari asked. Kankuro nodded.

"Well, you did that over there." Kankuro said, pointing to a shredded corpse. "Gaara killed that one out of mercy." Kankuro lightly teased. Temari couldn't believe it. She'd done that? She didn't remember a single thing, only that the sight of Shigure's blood excited her.

"Where's Gaara?" Temari asked.

"He's over beyond those trees, keeping watch and locating the tower. I came back and told him to. I can look after you myself." Kankuro replied. Gaara walked back into the clearing and, upon seeing Temari up, ran to them.

"Are you okay?" Gaara asked. Temari nodded.

"Good. I've found the tower. Can you stand?"

Temari immediately got up and moved around a bit.

"Yup. I'm all good to go." she said. Gaara nodded and led the way.

When they reached the tower, they noticed that no one else was around. When they went in, there was no one there either.

"Jeez, are we first?" Kankuro asked with a bragging tone. Temari couldn't help but smile a bit. They looked at their scrolls, knowing what to do. Kankuro took one, and Temari took the other. They opened them at the same time, and smoke began to leak out of them. They threw them down just as a cloud of smoke overtook the room. When it cleared, Baki stood there, face impartial.

"Good. You made it through alive. Did 'he' give you any trouble?" Baki immediately asked, turning to Temari.

"Did he ever. Demon tried to take over, and it was worse than the others."

"I can see, judging by the coating of blood on you. Did Kankuro do what I told him to?" Baki demanded. Temari shook her head.

"Nope. I wouldn't let him or Gaara do anything. And before you say anything, I won't let you do it either. I'm not gonna let anyone else hurt Meian. Ever think he is so angry because the technique hurts him so much?" Temari asked a bit harsher than intended.

"Temari, he's a demon. Demons can't be trusted. I need to make sure he won't try to take over during the exams."

"Like I said, no. Now, don't you have something to tell us?" Temari said, closing the discussion.

"Foolish child. Kankuro keep an eye on her. Here," he said giving Kankuro several slips of paper. "if something happens, put one on the ground and unseal it. It'll bring me to your location and I'll suppress him. But anyways, due to the skill level of the contestants this year, there may be a preliminary round before the third exams, so rest up for it." Baki said, disappearing.

"Kankuro, give me those tags." Temari ordered. Kankuro hesitated, so she snatched them from him, giving him a glare that said "try to get this back if you want" and threw them into the air. She snapped and a small vortex of wind shredded the paper until it was nothing. They walked around the building, trying to find more clues on what to do next. They did run into Team 8, and nothing was said as they passed, but Gaara could sense the pure terror they felt toward him, and Temari. Had they seen what happened in the forest? Gaara dismissed it and turned his attention back to looking for hints.

After an uneventful search, the siblings found an area with several doors. Upon further inspection, they found that they were rooms, for the contestants. They each claimed a room and went in. There was a fully functioning bathroom, a queen sized bed, electrical appliances, and a fully stocked refrigerator. Temari chose to shower first and wash her clothes/dry them with some wind manipulation. She stood under the shower for an hour, washing the blood off of her skin and out of her hair, then she did the same for her clothes, washing them in the tub until they were spotless, then she sat on the bed and ate a pack of instant ramen she found beside the microwave, after cooking it. Her brothers chose to eat first, sleep (or rest in Gaara's case) then shower.

* * *

><p>A couple of days later, everyone stood in the large gathering room, waiting for further instructions. With the exception of the sand siblings, Team 8, and a couple of other teams, everyone looked pretty worn out. Apparently, only the teams that arrived the first day could sleep in the rooms. So everyone else had to find room on the benches or on the floor and none of those teams could freshen up, but they were still fed adequately well. A jonin made his way up to the stage, stopping every 10 steps to cough. It was even more annoying when he began to talk, because he had to stop every other sentence to cough.<p>

"Well, all of you here have made it past the forest of death. Meaning, you've passed the second exam." he paused here to cough. "But unfortunately, there are way too many of you here. We will have to have a preliminary exam before we start the third exam." he stopped to cough again. "The prelims will start immediately after this. And I will be your proctor. Now, I believe Anko has something she'd like to say." he said, stepping aside. Anko walked up to center stage.

"You forgot to introduce yourself fool. Kids, this is Hayate Gekko, your proctor for the preliminary exam. But this is designed to cut the contenders down by at least half. It will be a series of one-on-one battles, the winner obviously being the one to advance. There are rules though. There is no winner until the opponent is either unconscious, dead, or until Hayate declares the battle as over. If you don't listen to his decisions, then you will be immediately disqualified. Would anyone like to back down?" Anko asked. It was completely silent, until one raised his hand.

"I've had enough. I'm going home." the silver haired kid said. Temari could see him and Naruto argue his decision, but Naruto fell silent after he said something. He stopped to talk to a couple of ninja wearing leaf headbands, and Temari didn't like his face when he did so. It was malicious, as if he'd just threatened them both. She'd have to remember that face.

"Now, if Lord Hokage would like to... everyone, get down!" Anko suddenly screamed. A second later, an explosion destroyed some of a wall and shook the building. There was screaming and confusion, and Temari heard someone yell "it's the Kumo ninja!"

"Gaara! Kankuro!" Temari screamed in the dust cloud. As soon as the explosion happened, the three had somehow gotten split up within the crowd of people. She felt around, frantically searching for her brothers. She bumped into a familiar figure.

"Naruto? Have you seen Gaara or Kankuro?" she immediately asked.

"Um, no. Have you seen Saku-"

"Tema?" Gaara called out. Temari immediately ran toward the voice until she bumped into him. She held onto him tightly.

"Where's Kankuro?" she demanded.

"I don't know." together they searched for Kankuro. But nothing. The dust began to clear, showing many shinobi and kunoichi engaged in battle. When the room was dust free, the two siblings ran to a group of kumo ninja, who were surrounding another ninja. Gaara quickly killed them and they looked at the fallen ninja more closely. The siblings felt they were going to be sick.

"Kankuro!"

* * *

><p>Mwahaha, don't you love cliffhangers? Please review. Just press that link down there and leave a comment, I really don't bite. But anyways, this has over 20,000 hits. I love you all!<p>

Until next time :)


	8. Chapter 8

Continuation from last chapter.

Thanks for the reviews everyone. And thanks Meech Mako for being so honest with me. I mean, how else am I gonna improve right? But you're right. I'm gonna try to slow it down from here, but it was kinda the idea to have Naruto quickly learn powerful techniques. He and Temari will be a bit overpowered in this story, and if I forgot to mention that in the beginning, then I apologize :) and p.s. I'm a girl lol.

* * *

><p>Chapter 8: Healing<p>

"Kankuro!" Temari screamed, dropping to her knees and reaching for her brother.

"Stop! Don't move him!" someone yelled from behind her. She froze and turned to see several men in white running toward her with a stretcher. She moved in front of Kankuro protectively. Her mind was clouded and she didn't want anyone near him. Gaara stood by, watching silently with pain etched on his face.

"Please get out of the way. We need to get him to the hospital. He could survive. From looking at him and the pool of blood, we can see he's suffered several severe stab wounds. We must get the blood stopped now." one of them said. Temari still wouldn't move, frozen in shock and not wanting anyone's hands on him. Gaara gently grabbed her with his sand and pulled her back toward him. He let her go, but kept some sand around her waist so he could still control her if she got out of hand.

"G-Gaara?" she whispered.

"Tema, what is it?"

"This... this is a nightmare, isn't it? Please tell me that's what it is. Please don't tell me our brother is over there, unconscious." she pleaded.

"Temari, that... is Kankuro." Gaara said, slightly turning his head away.

"Temari?" Naruto asked, walking over to see what was going on. He saw Kankuro and knew. Making sure to control his chakra, he tried to place a hand on his shoulder. She yanked away from him when he touched her, however.

"Don't you dare touch me!" she growled, taking one murderous, hard glance at him. Naruto flinched and took a couple of steps back.

"Um, would the siblings of this man come here?" that doctor said. Temari and Gaara were immediately there, fearing what he would say.

"The injuries are more severe than we thought. We've stopped most of the blood, but we must get him to a hospital for further analysis."

"Fuck your analysis! You need to save my brother!" Temari yelled.

"Please. You must understand. Without analysis, we won't know exactly what needs to be done."

"Temari." Gaara said. She looked at Gaara and saw his face. He was just as hurt as she was. She realized she was being irrational and reeled in her composure.

"I apologize. Please, get him there as fast as possible. Save my so... my brother. Save my brother." Temari said. The medical ninja lifted Kankuro onto the stretcher and left as quickly as possible. Temari grabbed Gaara's hand and led him away.

"Temari, if I can do anything-" Naruto started, before she pushed past him and said nothing. Around the room, the other battles were drawing to an end. There were a few minor injuries here and there, nothing that couldn't be healed with a week of bandaging. But Kankuro was beyond that, and no one else could compare to that injury right now. Just then, several jonin burst into the room, knocking out every Kumo ninja they saw. Kakashi, Guy, Asuma, Kurenai all moved at blinding speed, taking many as prisoners for T & I. Baki immediately spotted Temari and Gaara trying to leave and ran to stop them.

"Where are you two going? Where is Kankuro?"

"Baki, now's not the time." Temari warned.

"Temari, explain this to me. Where is Kankuro? You're not going anywhere until I get an answer." Baki said.

"You want to know? Kankuro's dying at the hospital! He got stabbed, badly. Just let us through so we can go to him!"

"And how are you gonna get out of the forest? I wouldn't worry much about Kankuro. Seeing as he is -" Baki started before he found himself dangling 3 feet off of the ground. Temari had had enough.

"Just because we're the children of the kazekage and we have specialized techniques doesn't make us fucking invincible! The proof of that is Kankuro! Now, if you won't move out of our way, I swear I will tear you apart right here!" She snarled. Baki had no response to that, so Temari threw him down and looked at Gaara. They really had no way to get back to Kankuro. They couldn't go back through the forest. The gates were probably locked.

"I can help." Temari rolled her eyes as Naruto walked up. "You want to get to Kankuro, I can help. I know a technique that can teleport us. I've never tried it with more than me, but I bet I can do it."

"Okay Naruto. Please, just do it." Temari said.

"Okay, grab ahold of me." they did as instructed and they immediately felt a tug, almost within their souls. Temari wanted to scream, oh how she wished she could just open her mouth and let one rip from her throat. But before the thought had time to come to fruition they were there. Temari looked around and saw what looked like a waiting room. She glanced at Naruto, and for a second, she could feel her anger lessen, but she remembered why she was there. She grabbed Gaara's hand and ran toward the help desk.

"Please! Tell us where Kankuro is!" Temari said. The nurse, a friendly looking woman of about 25, looked at her computer.

"Hmm, let's see here. Subaku no Kankuro? May I ask for proof your relations to the patient? He's in critical care."

"I am his sister, Temari, and this is our brother, Gaara." Temari said impatiently. They also showed her their Suna ID's.

"Okay. Just go down this hall and turn left. The critical care ward will be on your right. He's in room 4. Please be quiet though, as to not disturb him or the other patients." the nurse said. Temari and Gaara turned to go, but they stopped and turned to Naruto.

"Thank you Naruto." Temari said, running to give him a hug. He returned it.

"I'm so sorry for saying what I said earlier to you. I could never kill you; I don't know what I was thinking. You're my princess." he whispered in her ear. She smiled and he kissed her. It was short, but conveyed so much. Relief, anger, happiness, and... fear. So much fear. He let her go and she ran off with Gaara.

* * *

><p>Gaara wasn't one for emotions, but this was starting to get to him. Seeing Temari this devastated, knowing Kankuro could die. Gaara felt a pang in his heart and knew that he felt sorrow. He'd only felt it once before, after he had attacked Temari so long ago.<p>

"Temari, do you think he'll be okay?" Gaara asked as they came to the door. Temari sighed. Gaara wasn't a kid anymore, he could handle this.

"Gaara, I won't get your hopes up by telling you everything will be fine. It'll only hurt more if I'm wrong. I want him to make it, but those injuries were pretty bad. I can't guarantee anything. But, no matter what happens, we can't let him know we're worried, and we definitely can't cry. It's gonna take every drop of training we've received." Temari explained. Gaara nodded and they both entered.

The first thing they saw: Kankuro, pale as a sheet and asleep. Temari resisted the urge to run to him and hold him. Instead, she slowly walked over and looked down at him. All of his war paint and his hoodie had been removed, so he greatly resembled their father. Yet she felt no resentment toward that fact. Not now. She gently stroked his cheek, moving some of his hair back into place, just the way he liked it.

"... Stop being... such a mom..." Temari's head snapped up to see Kankuro looking at her. She resisted the urge to hug him.

"Shutup. I can't help it. I did kinda raise you." Temari joked, forcing herself to giggle.

"Huh. I guess you kinda did." the room fell silent.

"So, did you hear anything they said?" Temari asked after a minute.

"I think I remember hearing them say... something about watching me closely... that I could survive..." Kankuro started.

"... But?" Gaara asked, walking over to join them.

"... But... I know my body more than anyone else... and I know I won't make it. Even now... I can feel my strength leaving me. It's getting... harder to stay awake."

"Then stop talking. You need to res-"

"No Tema. I need to get this out. I've always wanted to thank you... For taking care of me and Gaara for all of these years... You are... The best sister anyone could ask for. Your cooking was always good and... you can whip just about anyone's ass... That was a plus growing up... and even though I'm sure I drove you crazy, you were always there for me no matter what. I... I love you Tema." he whispered, a tear escaping his eye and rolling down his cheek. Temari wiped the tear away and blinked furiously. Her tears were seriously threatening to spill over now. She hadn't expected Kankuro to do something like this, not in a million years. Kankuro turned to Gaara next.

"Gaara, I'm sorry. I know that before we started to get along, I called you a demon all of the time... I have the scars from Temari to prove it. But... I shouldn't have done that... You aren't the demon... Shukaku is. But... once we started getting along, you turned out to be pretty cool... Not to mention you can kill someone faster than I can eat... Now that's amazing." Kankuro stopped to chuckle, then he coughed into his hand. There was blood there, and Temari moved to do something, but he shook his head, put his hand down and kept talking. "Gaara, I need you to promise me one thing. I know Temari is perfectly capable of handling herself, but... I need you to be the man of the family and take care of her for me okay? Please, take care of her." he pleaded.

"Kankuro, why? You're the one here, but you're still worried about me? Please, stop talking and save your-"

"I promise. I will always take care of Temari." Gaara interrupted. Kankuro smiled. Temari looked at them both. Why were they still worried about her when Kankuro was the one on his deathbed?

"Good. I love you too little bro. Oh... you two. Don't let my death be a big deal... Just say a few things... and then bury me okay? And promise me... we'll see each other again... some day." Kankuro said. He coughed again, blood landing on the white sheets, and Temari jumped. He seemed to go even paler. Temari took his unsoiled hand and held it gingerly. Gaara placed his hand on top and they looked at Kankuro.

"We promise." they said, and Temari bent down to kiss him on the cheek. Kankuro smiled and his eyes began to close. His hand grew heavier and heavier, until it went limp. Temari gently laid it across his chest as the lifeline went flat. He was gone. Kankuro was dead. Doctors and nurses rushed into the room, checking over Kankuro. Gaara took Temari away so she wouldn't have to see this. The last thing Gaara saw was a doctor yelling 'Clear!', and then Kankuro's lifeless body jerking with the shock.

It never took Temari long to come to the full realization of things, so by the time Gaara had led her back into the waiting room, she'd fully accepted that Kankuro was truly gone. Naruto ran up to them as soon as he spotted them, smile on his face. But it was quickly shattered when he saw Temari.

"No..." he started, and his fears were confirmed when Gaara nodded. He looked back at Temari. Her face was devoid of any emotions at all, and she was looking right through him.

"Can you help me get her home?" Gaara asked. Naruto nodded without hesitation and lifted her onto his back. Gaara used some of his sand to secure her there, and they left.

"It's like she lost a brother, and a son." Gaara said as they walked through the village.

"Yeah. I heard her tell those medical ninja to save her son. What's that about?" Naruto asked.

"Well, our father never really was the kind of father you need to survive, and our mother died with my birth. So Temari has taken care of us since she was 3. She started doing it all by herself a few years ago. So she really has been a mother and sister to us. She's all I see when I think of a mother figure. To see her like this, it hurts." Gaara said.

* * *

><p><em>'Temari...'<em> Naruto sighed, looking at the woman on his back.

_**'Damn kit, she's pretty messed up.'**_

_**'Thank you Obvious-Sama.'**_

_**'It'll take her a long time to get over this. She'll need help.'**_

_**'And I'm here for her. I always will be.'**_

_**'What about the chakra?'**_

_**'Well I have you, don't I? And my chakra isn't trying to kill me. Plus she's on my back and everything's good. So there's some kind of control. I'm just gonna have to control it around her. I will never hurt her again.'**_

* * *

><p><em><strong>'So your brother's dead. Don't you feel rage?'<strong>_ a borderline psychotic voice asked.

_**'Of course I'm angry Shukaku. I'm furious. Why Kankuro? Not one of the other ninja in the room?'**_

_**'Exactly. You want to find the other Kumo ninja, make them all pay for killing your brother. Just look at Temari. She's a mess. And it's all because of them. Find them, kill them. Enjoy it as their filthy blood sinks into the ground. They deserve it. You know they do.'**_ Shukaku tempted Gaara.

_**'Maybe you're right...'**_

_**'Of course I'm right. Just listen to me and I'll help you get the revenge you seek.'**_

* * *

><p>Temari sat in a land of flames, frozen in shock. The flames danced around her, licking at her skin, but it didn't hurt. There were no burns anywhere on her.<p>

_**'You fool, get a hold of yourself! Is this how your brother would want to see you?' Meian's voice boomed throughout the land.**_

_**'Get up! Think. Those Kumo ninja did this to you, to Kankuro. They deserve to pay don't they?'**_

_**'Yes, they do.'**_ came Temari's response.

_**'Well then. If you get yourself out of this... Pitiful state you're in, I'll help you get that revenge.'**_

_**'Why should I believe you?'**_

_**'Well, we are partners. And being the way you are now makes you more vulnerable to being attacked and killed as well. Come on! Didn't you promise Gaara you'd take care of him? Well you're leaving him right now.'**_

Temari's eyes widened. She stood up and looked at Meian. The flames grew higher and burned brighter, turning a bright green color.

_**'You're right Meian. I'm feeling sorry for myself. I want to find those Kumo ninja and make each of them pay. Make them suffer until they are nothing but an empty shell. For every minute that Kankuro suffered, they'll get hours.'**_ Temari decided. The flames grew as her hatred increased, and they kept growing until the flames engulfed her body.

* * *

><p>That night, the apartment that Temari and Gaara stayed in was completely silent. They still ate together, but they were so full of rage and sorrow at first they didn't know what to say to each other.<p>

"Gaara." Temari started. Gaara looked up. "We can't go on like this. We're still alive, so we gotta be strong and fight, for Kankuro's sake. And no matter what, we have to stick together." Temari said.

"You're right Tema. We gotta get stronger, so one day we can avenge Kankuro. But we can't do it like this. Let's try to be like we were before today." Gaara agreed. Temari nodded and they continued to eat.

* * *

><p>Kankuro's funeral was like he wanted: a small gathering of people who were close to him. Temari, Gaara, Baki, and a few jonin of Suna were all there. They were in a clearing just outside of the walls of the village. Baki, being his sensei, led the procession.<p>

"Subaku no Kankuro was a brave shinobi, and a loved brother. He and his siblings fought for our village with no questions, and they never failed. He will be dearly missed. But we must remember, he's happy wherever he is. Most likely a place with endless food." everyone couldn't help but chuckle at the joke. "Now, does anyone have anything to say?" Baki asked. A few went up and told stories of Kankuro's love of food and others of how helpful he was around the village. Temari and Gaara went up together.

"Well, what can we say? He was... still is, our brother. We've been together forever and I took care of him. Now that he's gone, I don't know how we'll make it. But I know he's happy, so I'm glad. And yes, the kid couldn't get enough food. I'd have to work even harder on the days when he was especially hungry. He almost ate us out of house and home several times. But there were other times when he was really nice and helpful. He used to help me with Gaara in his toddler years, especially on days Gaara came home beaten. I don't think anyone will miss him more than we will." Temari said.

"I used to hate Kankuro. He messed with me all of the time and after awhile, just seeing him made me want to attack. But when he helped Temari take care of me, I saw another side of him. He was gentle and kind, nothing like he normally was, and I began to tolerate him. Then later when we became a team, all the time we spent together made my anger disappear completely. I was just getting to truly get along with him, but now he's gone. Don't you all worry though. Temari and I will not stop until those Kumo ninja are brought down."

"Yeah, I still have some unfinished business to settle." Temari finished. "But... today is about Kankuro. To one of the greatest puppeteers of Suna!" Temari cheered. Everyone else followed her lead. When the cheers died down, she and Gaara stepped down and Baki took center stage again.

"Well put. Now before we send him to Suna to be buried, we'll have the viewing." Baki said. The brown casket next to him was opened, and everyone slowly went to him, one by one. Temari was the last, Gaara, one of the first. He quickly went to see his brother, taking in his restful look, and went back to Temari.

"He really does look like he's sleeping." Gaara whispered.

When it was her turn she went up and looked at him. He looked so at peace. She brushed that same strand of hair out of his face and kissed his forehead one last time. She saw something drop onto his face and thought it was raining. But the sky was completely clear. She realized they were her own tears and hurriedly wiped them away. She turned away and walked back to Gaara, head slightly tilted down in case her eyes were reddening.

The pallbearers came up and took the casket, leading the way. Thankfully it was a cool day, just how Kankuro would like it. He hated the desert's extreme heat.

"Go straight to Suna and bury him in the special plot I informed you of." Baki said. All four nodded and they were gone. The others that were there gave their condolences to the siblings, and then either followed the pallbearers or went about their lives. Temari and Gaara turned toward Baki.

"It's okay. The exams have been postponed for a week while they clean everything up. So go home and get yourselves together okay? And don't worry. I've decided that you won't receive another team member unless you want one. You two are plenty strong alone." Baki said, disappearing.

"Gaara, mind if I borrow Temari for awhile?" Temari turned to see Naruto behind her. Gaara nodded and he took Temari's hand, leading her away.

Naruto led her all the way to the outskirts of the village and sat down under a tree. He patted the space next to him and she sat down as well.

"What is it Naruto? Why did you bring me all the way out here? I mean, it's pretty and all but-" Temari started before being cut off by Naruto's lips. He gave her a short kiss and pulled back. He held his arms open and stared at her.

"Drop the act Tema-chan. I can see you're hurting, and it isn't good to hold back. Trust me, I spent most of my childhood like that. Please, let it go." Naruto said. After a standstill of her staring at him and him having his arms open and waiting, she slowly entered his embrace and gripped his shirt tightly. Naruto could feel her shaking and taking a few deep breaths, and rubbed her back. Finally, like a dam bursting she broke down, sobbing into his chest. He held her there, unmoving. He didn't care that his shirt was quickly becoming soaked, nor about the fact that her nails were digging into his skin. He just wanted her to feel better. He held her until she stopped, an hour later. He pulled her away and smiled at her puffy face and her red eyes. He kissed away the tears remaining on her face and hugged her close.

"Naruto... Make me forget." she whispered in his ear. Naruto froze. W-what did she say?

"Tema no. You're not thinking straight right now." Naruto said, starting to get up. But Temari pulled him back down.

"Naruto, please. I just want to forget this happened, for one night. All I can think of is committing genocide on Kumo, and it's wreaking havoc on my sanity! Please, help me." She begged. Naruto sighed. What was he supposed to do?

_**'Any ideas?'**_

_**'Nope. I'm just as stumped as you on this one kit. But be careful, you could have little kits of your own if you decide to do this. And... she'll be bound to you for life. It's a fox thing.'**_

"Temari... Temari listen to me! I don't want to do anything you'll regret later. Please think rationally for a minute." he asked.

"I don't want to think rationally! I've been doing that all of my life!" she screamed. She was crying again. She hurt more than Naruto thought.

_**'Damn! What choice do I have?'**_

_**'You could do as she asks, or she'll feel rejected by you, and alone. She'll probably end up doing something stupid and Gaara will want you dead.'**_

_**'Shut up Kyuu. You're starting to sound like Sasuke. But even then... I can't do this to her. I'll just have to watch her.'** _Naruto sighed.

"Temari, I can't do this to you. You're hurting, and I want to help you. But not like this. I really like you, and when we do this if, we do this, I want it to be special." Naruto calmly explained. Temari's breathing returned to normal and she looked at Naruto with shock.

"Naruto, I... I didn't mean to... I'm so sorry..." she barely managed.

"Tema, what are you talking about? It's okay. Don't apologize, you're just hurt and confused right now." Naruto said, wiping away a tear that rolled down her face. He gently kissed her on the cheek before standing up.

"Come on. Let's get you back to Gaara before he comes hunting for me." Naruto lightly joked, offering his hand. Temari completely ignored it and slightly turned away.

"Naruto, please go home. I need to be alone."

"But, Gaara-"

"I can take care of myself just fine, thank you!" she snapped. Naruto sighed.

"I'm gonna come searching for you if I don't get some kind of notification that you made it home." Naruto said. Temari didn't do anything, so Naruto took his leave.

* * *

><p>Once Naruto was gone, Temari put her head in her hands and allowed herself to break down. She sobbed freely, screaming for Kankuro.<p>

_**'Damn woman, you sure do cry a lot. Get ahold of yourself and accept that he's dead. I hate to repeat myself, but how are you gonna get stronger if you break down everytime** _**you think about it? Here's some advice. Turn those feelings of sorrow and hate into energy to train with. GET UP!'** Meian roared. Temari's crying began to slow until she was merely sniffling. The sniffling stopped after a few minutes and Temari stood up.

_**'I'm sorry Meian. It's just... he was my brother okay? It's gonna take me awhile to get over this. But you're right. It's time to get stronger.'**_ Temari declared. Meian sat back with an irritated huff.

_'It's been about 10 minutes. I got about 40 minutes to train, then 10 to get back to the village, and let Naruto know I made it back.'_ and Temari set to training. She made a shadow clone, and the copy stood in front of its original like a soldier.

"I want you to come at me with everything you got. Got it?"

"Yes ma'am!" the clone replied, pulling out her fan. She fully opened it and swung it full force. Temari pulled out her own fan and counter attacked. The two attacks collided, violently whipping the wind around the area. Temari shielded her face from the oncoming debris, but that turned out to be a bad idea. As soon as the wind died down her clone was in front of her. Using the remaining wind as momentum, the clone spun around before connecting her fan with Temari's stomach. Temari flew back and hit a tree. She got back up, but not before coughing up some blood.

"Hmph. Master said to come at her with everything I got, but what about her? Why is she holding back?" the clone thought out loud. Temari gripped her fan and ran toward her clone. She swung her fan like she wanted to attack, and her clone defended.

'Perfect.' Temari thought, and she immediately disappeared. The fan dropped to the ground, leaving a frantic clone.

"Come out! You can't hide in the wind. You're forgetting, I know all of your techniques." the clone said, and her fan too, dropped as she phased into the wind.

To one passing by, they'd simply think the wind was picking up. But to the two kunoichi, it was a battle of wits between Suna's wind master and her clone. Each of their attacks were so even, neither side was gaining ground over the other and after a minute, Temari realized this was a waste of her chakra.

'Damn! This is getting us nowhere.' Temari thought. Apparently her clone had the same idea, because they both rematerialized at the same time. Temari grabbed her fan and put it back into its holster.

"Good job master." the clone said.

"What are you talking about? Neither of us has won yet."

"Master, have you forgotten? I am you. What I know, you know. What I learn, you learn. When we were fighting, our bodies began to go faster and hit harder, and we kept up with each other the entire time. We were just training, were we not? So I think this has been quite a successful training session, huh?" Temari giggled a bit.

"You're right. I can feel the difference. I was so consumed with winning, I forgot about training. I like you. You've got to be the most useful clone I've summoned. I'll be calling on you a lot."

"It'll be my pleasure master." the clone said, dissipating. Temari sighed and turned to leave. She just wanted to tell Naruto she was okay, go home, defuse the bomb that is Gaara, take a long hot shower, and then go to bed.

* * *

><p>She heard raspy laughter and her guard immediately went up. Her fan was back out in an instant and her chakra had already been fed into it.<p>

"Who the hell is there? Come out before I find you and rip you apart!" Temari snarled.

"Oh, don't be afraid Temari. I'm not here to hurt you." echoed the voice from all around.

"Who are you? And how the hell do you know me?" she demanded.

"How could I not know the identity of Suna's most powerful kunoichi? As for who I am, there's no need to know just yet. But just know that I know what it is that you desire. I can give you that, power, and so much more. If you only join me."

"Ha! If you can get me the entire nation of Kumo so I can slaughter them one by one, I'd join you in a heartbeat." Temari joked.

"Ah, but you see my dear, I can. My village has an alliance with them, so that's child's play. So, will you join me?"

"Hmm, and you swear you can get me Kumo?"

"On my honor as the leader of the sound village."

"Okay then, you're on. But I will kill you if you try any funny business." Orochimaru stepped out from the shadows and walked to Temari. He stood before her, smiling wickedly.

"So, it's you. I've heard of you, ex-Akatsuki member, Orochimaru. Well I don't really like you, but I can put that aside. All that matters to me is my revenge on Kumo."

"And you'll have that, and so much more. But I need you to do something for me. In one month, deliver a message to Sasuke Uchiha. Tell him to stop fighting it. He will come to me for my power. He won't be able to resist my mark."

"I'll ask about that mark later. But how exactly do you expect me to do that?"

"Say hello to the sound four." Orochimaru said. Four figures stepped out into the clearing and kneeled at Temari's feet. "They are at your every beck and call. They cannot disobey you, so try and get your mission finished as soon as possible. In fact, we're planning an invasion of Konoha in the third exams. But we are still missing a safety net. I hope you, or even better, your brother, can help us."

"I'll have to speak to Gaara about it, but I make no promises."

"Well my dear, if you're serious about this, meet me here in a week, preferably with your brother." Orochimaru said, sinking into the ground.

"Well, what do you want us to do leader-sama?" the redhead girl, the only girl, asked.

"Hmm, just keep to the shadows and keep an eye on Uchiha for now. Do not get caught. His Sharingan is very perceptive. Use animals if you can." Temari started.

"I can use my spiders!" the dark skinned one exclaimed.

"Excellent. Someone write a daily report and leave it with my clone." Temari said, creating a clone. "She will read it and relay the information to me. Also, we need some kind of signal that lets you know when I need you."

"Hmm, how about you just create a clone and immediately destroy it? The info will be transferred to us through this clone." the dark skinned guy suggested.

"Good idea. We'll go with that. So, what are your names?" Temari asked.

"I am Kidomaru." the dark skinned guy said.

"I am Tayuya." the girl said.

"I am Sakon." the guy with pale purple hair said.

"I am Jirobo." the other one said. He was a bit on the large side.

"Okay. And I am Temari. We have our plan worked out, so we're good. You all can go." Temari said. The sound four nodded and disappeared.

_'Don't worry Kankuro. My revenge is one step closer.'_ Temari thought, heading back to the village with a new darkness growing in her heart.

* * *

><p>Sorry this chapter was so short. I just wanted to get this out of the way. Don't hate me for this chapter, you'll see. But it might be a little while before I can update again, so please bear with me. So... Review, leave suggestionscomments, etc. And, see ya next chapter.

So for any comments or confusion about why Temari would join him so easily. She's still apparently really torn about Kankuro's death to have broken down like that in the forest. She's still full of rage and sorrow, and the first person who finds her wants to help her, no matter what the side agenda may be. The only one in her confusion who is willing to help her reach her goal. I don't know about you all, but I'd probably do the same.

If there are any questions, don't hesitate to pm me. I'll answer the best that I can.


	9. Chapter 9

Hey! I'm back :) so sorry I've taken so long to update, but I'm not dead. I've been extremely busy doing summer homework and preparing for my senior year. It's been awhile, so sorry if this isn't the same quality as my other chapters. Just need a bit of time to get back into the rhythm of it. This chapter focuses on Temari and her coping with the fact her brother is dead, and also on her coming to her senses. Filler-ish, but I will be getting back to the main plot next chapter.

Thanks for all of the reviews. It is my fuel to keep writing :)

Disclaimer (jeez, hate these): I own nothing of this. Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto, not me. I only write for the joy of writing and pleasing my readers.

* * *

><p>Chapter 9: Return<p>

"Are you crazy? Have you lost your mind?"

"Gaara, what do you mean? This is the best offer that I've heard since we've been here."

"So, you meet a strange man who claims to be the leader of Oto, he offers you some power and revenge, and you take it. Oh, let's not forget the part where he wants to invade the leaf and disrupt the chuunin exams. Did I miss something? I don't see any logic in this, at all." Gaara sighed with irritation. As soon as Temari had gotten home, Gaara was expecting silence from his sister, but instead she'd sat him down on the sofa and was spouting this... nonsense.

"You may not get it now, but you will. Gaara, come on. We have to. To avenge Kankuro." Temari tried to reason.

"Temari, no! You're going about this the wrong way! I refuse to let you throw away your life like that! And if this man really is from Oto, you'll be making yourself an enemy of Konoha! Suna is an ally of Konoha, and there's no doubt in my mind that the damn council of our village won't hesitate to mark you a missing-nin and send hunters after you. Is that what you want? Is that what Kankuro would want you to do? Think like the kunoichi you were raised to be and stop being so damn selfish!" Gaara roared. Temari fell silent, Gaara's words having struck deep within her.

_**'Your brother has a point. What will you do girl?'**_

_**'I...'**_

"I... don't know Gaara. I just don't. Let me at least sleep on it, okay?" Temari said, standing up. She walked past her brother, out of the living room and into her room. Gaara sighed and went to his own room.

_**'Hmm, an all out attack on Konoha. Could give us a chance to see blood. Come on Gaara, you know you want it. You want something to take your frustrations out on, and so does Temari. Give in, feel their blood run through your sand, watch it pool at your feet.'**_

_**'Leave me be Shukaku. I will not give in. This situation with Temari is a large enough thorn in my side, I don't need another.'**_

_**'Hmm, sure. But remember: Once a killer, always a killer. You'll come to me, and when you do, it'll be over. For you... for everyone.'**_ Shukaku snickered, retreating into the dark corners of the redhead's mind.

_'Kankuro, what would you do?'_ Gaara sighed, gazing out of the window at the empty village streets below. Despite Kankuro being the rash, impulsive idiot he was, he always knew what to do in these kinds of situations.

* * *

><p><em>"Temari... Temari... Tema!" Temari found herself in a land of clouds. She was standing on one of them, and she looked up to see who had called her. She almost let out a sob when she saw him, but forced it back with all of her might.<em>

_"Kankuro?" her voice broke, and she couldn't help the tear that slid down her face._

_"Hey, why are you crying? You know I hate seeing you do that."_

_"What's going on? Why are you here?"_

_"Heh. You underestimate me sis. Before I died, I had enough chakra left to send some into both of you. Just in case I needed to come straighten you guys out. Seems like you're having trouble."_

_"Of course I'm having trouble! I had to watch my little brother die, and I wasn't able to do a damn thing about it! Why does no one seem to get what I'm saying?"_

_"Mari, it's because you're not missing me as a brother. You're missing me as a son. Let's face it, dad never cared for us, and Yashamaru was just as bad. You're the one who kept us alive. You went on extra missions when we rested to get enough money when dad didn't give us any. I understand, but you gotta calm down. Yes, I'm gone. But that doesn't mean I'm not with you. I will always be with you and Gaara." Kankuro said, walking closer to Temari and wrapping her in a hug. "You were always there. Holding me when I had a nightmare or holding Gaara when he had night terrors. Tending to us whenever we got hurt, and standing up for us when dad accused us of doing stuff we did or didn't do. It's time you let someone support you. You're not alone." he said._

_"Kankuro, I'm sorry. I wasn't able to protect you, but I swear to you. I will protect Gaara no matter what I have to do."_

_"That's more like it. Now go and kick some ass in that exam for me." Kankuro smirked, letting go and stepping back._

_"I guess this is goodbye."_

_"Yeah, I guess it is." Kankuro began to fade away. "Don't forget. You're the strongest girl in Suna, our wind mistress, and my sister. Never forget that. I love you Temari." Kankuro said, and he was gone. The last image she held of her brother was him, smiling without a care in the world._

_"I love you too, Kankuro."_

* * *

><p>"Gaara, can I come in?" the soft voice of his sister alerted Gaara, bringing him out of his rest. The sun was just beginning to peek over the horizon, it was time to get the day started. Gaara looked at her and nodded as he moved to sit on the unused bed. Temari's eyes were still downcast as she sat beside him.<p>

"Have you thought about it?" was Gaara's immediate question.

"Yeah."

"And?"

"Gaara, I thought and thought last night. And I realized something. I love you, and all the people in Suna. The civilians who have nothing to do with our past anyways. It's my home, no matter what has happened to us. The village and her people are my life. I don't know what I would do without them."

"Good, so-"

"Gaara please, let me finish. If I can help it, I never want anyone else to experience what we've gone through. So I must do what I think is right. To protect Suna, you..." she started, leaning over and kissing Gaara on the forehead. "... and to protect as many people as I can from Otogakure." she whispered. Gaara was about to ask her what she meant when he felt her fist, cloaked in chakra, and the pain that exploded in his stomach. Temari stood up and made sure he lay back before running out of the room.

"Temari." he tried to call out, but it was no use. His voice was shot, and she was gone.

* * *

><p>Temari ran through the village, knowing that if she wanted to leave she'd have to do it before Shukaku allowed Gaara to regain consciousness. Her lithe form flew by the few civilians that were beginning their days, the darkness making it easier for her. She'd sent a message to her clone already, telling her to tell the sound four to meet her outside the gates of the village. She felt their presence as she neared and sighed. So it began.<p>

* * *

><p>Naruto was in his apartment, having woken up early so he could begin practicing again. He sighed. His mind kept drifting back to thoughts of Temari. He hoped she was okay. Of course, getting captured and tortured, then having your brother die in front of you weren't exactly on the top 5 easiest traumas to get over list. He decided that he'd go check on her when the sun came up so Gaara wouldn't go crazy over his sister having such an early visitor. He looked at the scroll in his hand and sighed. He hated reading.<p>

_'Honestly, if I want to be stronger, truly stronger, I feel like I should be doing this on my own. I mean, look at my dad. He created all of his techniques. All of these techniques. I don't want to be known as his leftovers.'_

_**'That's one hell of a point. So, you gonna stop trying to control me?'**_

_**'Oh hell no, you're going down fox. But I'm just gonna find my center for my own jutsu. I will be keeping the Flying Thunder God technique however. It's awesome!'**_ Naruto grinned, sealing the scrolls away and going to get dressed. A quick jog around the village would help clear his mind and get his chakra flowing. Of course, Naruto would never forget breakfast, so he scarfed down a bowl of instant ramen before heading to the door.

"Alright! Let's do this!" he declared, opening the door and running out. Only to be knocked down by a solid, panting figure. Naruto looked up into the panicked eyes of...

"Gaara? What are you doing here? What's wrong?" he asked, noticing that Gaara held his stomach in pain.

"Temari... left. She said something about protecting those she cared for, then she knocked me out. I don't know what she's planning, but she was burdened when she left, I could practically feel it. We need to find her, now!" Gaara explained. Naruto almost didn't believe Gaara, that he was playing a sick joke. But he was 100% serious. She was gone. Again! Naruto immediately called on Kyuu's abilities and tried to track her down. He ran back into his home, haphazardly throwing supplies into a bag before rushing back out.

"Let's go."

* * *

><p>"So, what's the problem?" Kidomaru asked as the group of six leaped through the trees.<p>

"Gaara didn't feel the way I do, so I left. Hope that won't hamper the plans too much."

"Please. Regardless, Konoha will fall. We have Iwa and Kumo as well, so they'll make up for it." Kidomaru assured her. She sighed in relief.

"Will Orochimaru be angry?"

"He won't be joyed, but he'll get over it. Stop worrying." Tayuya said.

"As long as you still deliver the message to the Uchiha brat, he'll be fine." Kidomaru said. Temari nodded and they continued on.

"Kidomaru, you and my clone should go find a way to throw them off of my trail. I don't care how, just do it." Temari said. Both nodded and separated from the group.

_'Sorry guys, can't let you find me just yet.'_

* * *

><p>Naruto and Gaara searched frantically. Her scent was disappearing, way faster than the normal rate a scent should fade at.<p>

"Why? Why would she do this?" Naruto groaned in frustration, struggling to stay on the trail.

"She said she didn't want anyone else to feel the pain that we felt. This Otogakure and its Orochimaru are obviously a threat to our peace."

"So she's gonna risk her life to take them all down?"

"That's something I'd rather not think about. Just focus on finding her." Gaara snapped. Naruto fell silent and kept going. The morning forest was peaceful, the only sounds being the disruption of branches as they launched off of them. Wait...

"Gaara, I don't hear anything."

"You can hear me."

"No, not that. Look at the sun, it's rising. We should hear birds, squirrels, something."

"A genjutsu?"

"No, Shukaku and Kyuu shouldn't be affected by genjutsu like that. Which means..."

"They're all dead." the two jinchuuriki searched until they began spotting small animals, lying in their own pools of blood and impaled on thin, golden brown arrows. Naruto's nose caught something and he went closer. Kneeling by a chipmunk, he plucked off a blonde strand of hair. His nose twitched as he recognized the smell, the unique smell of sand and vanilla. The hair vanished with a tiny puff of smoke, as did the other strands of hair.

"Temari's clone's hair. Either she... or they, have planned this out. We've been following a false lead!" Naruto snarled, punching the ground and leaving a small crater.

"We have no choice. We must tell someone more suited to this. Perhaps the Konoha ANBU-"

"Did you forget what the ANBU did last time? They restrained you and Kankuro without another question. Was it because you are her brothers, or was it because you are from Suna? Either way, I don't trust the ANBU, not with her care." Naruto snapped

"What do you suggest then?" Gaara asked, surprised that the blond could think so thoroughly.

"I'll go directly to the old man and ask him to send a few Inuzuka and my sensei to help us. They are the best trackers in Konoha." Naruto said. Gaara nodded his consent, and they headed back, full speed.

* * *

><p>"She left?" even the elderly hokage could not hide his surprise that the young kunoichi would do such a thing.<p>

"Jiji, don't draw conclusions. She knows that Orochimaru plans to attack the village-"

"He _what_?" ... Oh yeah. That detail had slipped him in his adrenaline rush.

"Yeah. Oto, Iwa and Kumo may have an alliance. They're gonna strike during the third exam. Anyways, she told Gaara that she didn't want anyone else going through the pain of losing a loved one again before she left. So we think she is trying to earn the trust of Orochimaru's forces and then betray them. But we don't know if she's in danger or not. Please, Kiba, Kakashi-sensei, even Hana. They have to be here."

"Naruto, you know that I believe you. However, none of them are in the village, and won't be back until tomorrow. The chuunin exams resume in 6 days, so perhaps she'll be back. If not, she will be disqualified."

"Is that all you have to say about it? Damn it old man, you expect me or Gaara to just sit back and take that?" Naruto growled.

"Naruto, I'm sorry. But there's nothing more I can do. You said you didn't want the ANBU involved at all. And with our sensory specialists out... wait. There is one more."

"Anyone, just help us." Naruto said.

* * *

><p>The three sound nin and Temari made it back to a small hideout, maybe ten miles from the village. Kidomaru got there a few minutes after them and they made their way to the briefing room. They'd be meeting up with Orochimaru here, to further discuss their plan. Temari wandered around the building when the meeting was over. They had just discussed weakpoints around the village where they'd need to strike. Temari was being assigned to the attack wave under command of Orochimaru himself. She was to attack the stadium and prevent enemies from nearing him as the sound four erected their jutsu. Then she was to go to the center of the village and kill as many as possible. That very thought at the important role unnerved her. How the hell would she pull this off?<p>

"... Kill him?" the sound floated to her ears. She crept closer to see Orochimaru addressing Sakon.

"No my lord. I believe she left him alive, only knocking him out before she fled the village." Sakon said. Were they talking about her?

"Damn Suna kunoichi. If that jinchuuriki goes to the old man, then it's all over with!"

"I doubt he would. The ANBU would get involved, and I doubt he would trust them with his sister's safety."

"No matter. I cannot take any chances. Tell Tayuya and Jirobo to go back to Konoha and dispose of the boy. Kidomaru and I are going to move ahead to the next hideout. You take care of her." and just like that, her plan was ruined. Temari steeled her nerves and fled the area before she was caught.

_'Damn, what do I do now?'_

_**'See? This is what you get for trying to play Hero.'**_ Meian snarled.

_**'Oh shutup.'**_

* * *

><p>A person in a trench coat stood before Hiruzen, his bored expression unchanging.<p>

"I knew you'd call for me eventually." he said in a monotone drawl.

"Can you track her?"

"Can I track her? I've had my kikaichu on her since that last event. I know exactly where she is. But we must move before they move."

"Naruto, Gaara. Please follow Shibi. His tracking skills nearly parallel those of our ANBU." the two boys nodded, following the stoic man out of the room.

* * *

><p>Nearly two hours later Temari sat in a small room that served as her bedroom, pondering over her next move. She had no idea what she was going to do, so her mind settled on fleeing. She stood and ran to the door, flinging it open to reveal someone in mid knock. A silver haired man she didn't want to see.<p>

"Shit." she breathed. He grabbed at her, aiming for her throat, but Temari ducked and swept her leg along the ground in a circle, tripping the Sound Four member. She jumped back and wove some handsigns, thrusting her palm toward Sakon. He was thrown back by the compressed wind and she took the opportunity to run past him and out of the hideout. She grabbed her fan and opened it all of the way, not planning to underestimate this enemy. He was right behind her, and she wasted no time in swinging the fan.

"Wind scythe jutsu!" Sakon jumped out of the way as the blades assaulted the building behind him.

"Heh, you'll have to do better than that." Sakon said, rushing at Temari. She snapped her fan shut and put it in front of her body, blocking the hits. She swung it like a sword, catching Sakon in the chest, before a log took his place. Temari barely had time to react, putting up a wind shield as Sakon aimed a kick at her face. The shield absorbed most of it, but the raw power still managed to push her back a few inches. Temari flipped backwards, grabbing a kunai and feeding her chakra into it. She threw it and Sakon dodged.

_'Perfect.'_ Temari disappeared and reappeared behind Sakon, her fan above her head and ready to crack his skull like an egg. And it would've worked too, if it weren't for another set of hands that caught it.

"What?"

"Hey there. Not letting ya get us that easily." and Temari was kicked back. She was able to upright herself and land, although she still skidded back a couple of feet. She faced her two opponents and growled.

_**'Need some help?'**_

_**'No, I can't let them know about you. Then the Akatsuki or some other pure chakra-loving freak will find out and try to capture me and hurt you. I refuse to let that happen Meian. I'll figure out some other way.'**_ Temari told him, unwavering in her decision. Meian was silent for a while, but then he let out a breathy laugh.

_**'You've got to be the most interesting human I've ever met. Alright then.'**_

The two rushed at Temari, and she jumped high into the air, preparing to swing her fan at them. But the two were fast, and jumped as well. The other was in front of her, Sakon behind her. She spun and kicked Sakon, then brought her fan down upon the other, watching as they fell back toward the ground. Using her fan, she glided down to the nearest branch and watched the duo as they stood up.

"Sakon, this is annoying."

"Should we do it Ukon?"

"Yeah." strange red marks passed over their skin before they settled, darkening into black. They rushed Temari at the same time, following her closely as she dropped down from the branch. She landed on the ground, sprinting away from them.

Just what the hell were those markings? They were definitely faster, no doubt they'd gotten a strength boost as well. She needed a plan, and she needed one fast. Maybe she'd have to use it. They knew she was Gaara's sister, so they had to know about her chakra. But they didn't know about Meian.

_**'Meian.'**_

_**'Yeah, yeah. I know.'**_

Temari stopped running and faced her opponents. A light shroud of white chakra covered her body, most of it concentrated in her hands. Sakon reached her first. He threw a punch with his right fist and she blocked it before throwing him over her head as Ukon tried to punch her in the stomach. She jumped, flipping backwards and kicking Sakon further away. She landed, her fan out and open, and channeled her chakra into it.

"Wind style: Pure wind scythe jutsu!" she yelled, swinging it around her entire body. Everything was quiet, then both opponents received numerous cuts and gashes. They fell to their knees, and she channeled more chakra into her fan, waiting for any tricks. Neither disappeared, so they were the real ones.

"Gah! I forgot about that pesky chakra. Sakon, we are at a disadvantage with those damn long range attacks."

"Shut up! I know that! Come get some rest, I'm going for Stage two." Sakon ordered. Ukon disappeared and reappeared beside his brother, merging with his body once again. Sakon stood and glared at Temari.

"Well, it's been awhile since I was pushed to this form. But, it's all over now. Enemies who see me in this form, cannot be allowed to live!" Sakon growled. His skin darkened, until it was a reddish color. Thick armor plates grew and covered his left arm, a sharp horn protruded from the right side of his forehead, and his silver hair now reached his waist. Temari knew not to underestimate him, so she called upon more of the pure chakra. But even her chakra could not prepare her for the speed he now possessed. He disappeared and before she knew it, she received a crushing kick on her left side. The grotesque cracking sounds and the unreal pain told her at least three of her ribs were broken. As she flew to the side, Sakon chased her, kicking her in the stomach and sending her the short distance to the ground. But that didn't make it hurt any less. Before she could cry out in pain, Sakon had her by the throat and lifted her up.

"Jeez, if you hadn't made such a big mistake, we could've been great allies. But I have my orders. I'd love to make you die slowly and painfully, but I have other things to do. Oh well, I could take a couple of minutes to crush your throat." he said, almost like he was having a casual conversation, squeezing tighter. Meian's chakra was already healing the broken ribs, but it couldn't stop her from suffocating.

_**'Damnit! Don't you dare die!'**_

_**'Don't worry Meian. Stop underestimating me.'**_ Temari placed her hands on Sakon's, seemingly trying to pry his hands off. Sakon smirked and squeezed harder. He felt a heat on his hand and ignored it. The heat grew, and grew, and grew. Sakon's hand erupted in a white flame, making him abandon his grip and focus on putting it out. Temari landed, giving him no chance to do so and uppercutted him. He fell backwards, hand still on fire and she walked to him, ready to crush the life out of him. The pain she felt in her ribs was now a dull ache, and she could easily deal with that. Ukon separated from his brother, trying to punch Temari, but she stepped back and avoided it. Ukon growled and kept swinging, never landing a hit. Temari ducked under his next punch and kicked him in the stomach, making him stumble back a bit. Taking the opening, Temari jumped at him, trying to kick him in the head, but he ducked. She anticipated that and swung her body so that her other leg would come down on his head. It connected, and to make sure it hurt, she put some pure chakra behind the kick. She jumped back and waited, but Ukon's body remained unmoving.

"Good job Ukon. Come on bro, get some rest. I'll handle it from here." Temari's head snapped to the right to see Sakon, looking good as new. Ukon staggered up as Sakon appeared beside him, wasting no time in using his kekkei genkai to fuse with his brother again. Sakon disappeared and Temari jumped, knowing what his next move would be. He expected that, and instead reappeared above her. He grabbed her hair, his claws cutting the bands that held the top two pigtails, and slammed her to the ground. He pulled her up by her hair, making her cry out as she did, and pulled out a kunai. He pressed it against her throat, and she froze under the cold steel's touch.

"You are a strong one. Pushing us to this limit isn't normal. But it's all over now. Any last words?" he asked. He chuckled when she said nothing. "Oh well." and he pressed the kunai closer. She could feel a thin line of blood run down her neck, and knew she would die. She closed her eyes and waited for fate to make its cruel move. But none came and she realized she heard a faint sound. The sound of... sand. Her eyes flew open to see Naruto and Gaara at the edge of the clearing, both breathing harder than normal. Naruto had that cloak of red chakra around him, and two tails swayed behind him. Chakra appendages held Sakon's hand and body, and Gaara's sand held her body. Naruto shifted his chakra so that the kunai was pulled away from her neck, and Gaara pulled his sister toward them.

"H-how is that possible? You should be dead! Tayuya and Jirobo went after you. There's no way you could've beaten them!" Sakon yelled. Naruto smirked.

"You don't get it. Normally, we may not have won. But we had more than just us." Shibi jumped down and landed beside them. "Plus, there was no way we were gonna let Temari suffer alone. I don't know why she can't get it through her thick head, but we're all in this together! You mess with one of us." and Naruto's hold tightened. "You mess with all of us."

Gaara sent his sand to cover Sakon's body and lifted him into the air.

"You made my sister bleed. The punishment for a crime so heinous is immediate forfeit of your life. Sand burial!" the blood splattered all over the area, and Naruto and Gaara's forms relaxed. Then they turned on her.

"What the hell were you thinking!" they all froze and turned to look at Gaara. The normally calm, near emotionless boy was absolutely furious at his sister. "You could've gotten yourself killed!"

"Gaara, I..."

"Look Temari. I know how much it hurts, and no one wants to see that suffering in anyone. But to make it right, we have to do it right. Together. This is definitely not it. Do you understand me? Even if you did succeed with killing that man, or even Orochimaru, you couldn't take on three nations alone. You'd die, and where would that leave me? Where would it leave him?" Gaara said, pointing at Naruto. Temari looked at Naruto, and found only understanding in his eyes. She bit back the tears and nodded. But they were tears of relief, like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders.

"I understand. I'm sorry for causing so much trouble. But Gaara, Naruto..." she said, standing up and gathering her hair into the two pigtails using spare rubber bands she produced from her weapon pouch.

"Hmm?"

"Promise me one thing. Let's finish these exams, and if Orochimaru shows his sorry ass again, we'll take every single one of them down." she smirked. Both were relieved to see the spark of determination in her eyes and smiled back. Those were the eyes they knew and loved.

"Hell yeah!" Naruto shouted.

"Wouldn't have it any other way." Gaara smirked. Suddenly, their faces twisted in pain and they disappeared.

"What? Clones? Then where are they? Don't tell me they're still fighting." Temari groaned before running the way they'd come from. Shibi followed her, a bit shocked. Here she was, a kunoichi, concerned with the wellbeing of two jinchuuriki?

_'Times have changed, it seems.'_

* * *

><p>Naruto and Gaara stood, panting as their opponents looked like they weren't even breaking a sweat.<p>

"Come on brats. You'll never touch us like this." Tayuya mocked. Honestly, the exhaustion of chakra had her and Jirobo just as tired as their opponents, but they had been trained hard enough to hide it. In Orochimaru's presence, showing any sign of weakness was like begging for death. He had no use for weaklings.

_'Where the hell is Temari?'_ was the thought filling both Jinchuuriki's minds. They felt that click in their heads, and memories from their clones filled their minds. Naruto smiled. She was fine. Gaara let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding, and focused on the fight.

"Ha! With skills like this, you'll never rescue your friend! I bet Sakon has her dead by now, there's no way she could beat him." Jirobo laughed in that annoying voice of his.

"You two seriously underestimate your opponents, and that will be your downfall. Temari is fine, and Sakon is dead." Naruto said.

"And how do you know that?" Tayuya smirked.

"Because, I'm right here." Tayuya and Jirobo's heads snapped up to see Temari, kneeling on a tree branch. She was obviously exhausted, and hadn't had a chance to catch her breath. Shibi stood beside her, looking stoic as always.

"N-no. There's just no way! There is no way that someone like you could defeat Sakon alone! He is our strongest!" Tayuya yelled. Temari took a deep breath and laughed.

"Was your strongest. And you know what's funny Tayuya? I wasn't alone. I was never alone. It took me far too long to realize it, but as long as I have those two," she said, motioning toward Naruto and Gaara. "I will never lose!" she proclaimed.

"Oh don't get so full of yourself you idiot. You still have to get through us." Tayuya smirked, bringing her flute up to her mouth. But before she blew, Temari's voice stopped her.

"You fight with sound? Then give up."

"You know, it's rude to interrupt someone during a technique. And why would I give up? Once you get a taste of my music, you'll-"

"Let me stop you right there. You honestly think your sound waves can touch me? Well then, let me end this before you make an even bigger fool of yourself. Once you get a taste of my wind... you won't be getting up again." Temari said, standing up and pulling out her fan. She bit her thumb and swiped it down the length of it, leaving a thick trail of blood. "Goodbye. Summoning: Blade Dance!" she yelled, swinging her fan. A sharp wind picked up and a weasel wearing an eye patch and a black jacket appeared out of a poof of smoke.

"Yeah, what's up boss?"

"Kamatari, kill that girl. Try to kill the other one as well."

"Alright then." Kamatari pushed chakra into his scythe and took off, leaving a path of devastation. Some trees were sliced into chunks, others were ripped from their roots, but all of them flew toward Tayuya. She put her flute up, trying to summon her Doki to protect her from some of the attack, but one of the sharp blades sliced the instrument clean in half. Her screams could be heard as everything finally hit her, but soon the forest was quiet again, and her chakra signature was gone. Temari fell to one knee, panting heavily. Her eyes scanned the floor below her and found Jirobo. He had managed to escape the assault, but not fully. He seemed to favor his right leg, and his left arm hung limply at his side. She stood back up, determined not to look weak in front of an enemy, although her breathing could easily give her away. Sand enveloped Jirobo a few seconds later and Gaara prepared to crush him.

"Gaara, no! Don't kill him!" Temari yelled. Gaara turned his head toward his sister, hand still prepared to close.

"Why not?"

"Crush his arms and one leg... Either he makes it back to wherever Orochimaru is hiding... or someone will find him. But Jirobo... if you get back to Orochimaru, be sure to inform him that his plans are shot... The Hokage knows about his plans, and I am sure defense preparations are already underway." Temari said. Gaara nodded and pulled the sand away from Jirobo's body, leaving it on his left leg and both arms. He closed his hands, and Jirobo's voice hit an octave higher as his bones were audibly crushed into pieces. Gaara dropped him and he fell to the ground with a grunt.

"Alright, let's get back to the village. We're done here." Shibi suggested. Everyone nodded and Temari made to jump down, but her muscles were too tired. She could no longer move. So all she managed to do was slip off the branch and watch as the ground rushed to meet her. She was caught, and she looked up into the blue, angry eyes of Naruto.

"Don't do something stupid like that ever again. You hear me? You're precious to me Tema-chan, and I'd go ballistic if something happened to you."

"Naruto... thank you. I thought I had to do something, something to get even with someone. But hell, what good is it if I throw my life away?" she laughed. "Thanks for saving me Naru-kun. You too Gaara. I'd have been screwed if you two hadn't-" Temari was cut off by Naruto's lips on her own. He pulled away after a few short seconds and smiled at her.

"Rest Tema-hime. Stop talking." Naruto whispered. Temari nodded and closed her eyes, quickly falling asleep. Naruto began walking, Gaara and Shino on either side of him.

_**'Come on. He just planted one on your sister and you had no reaction.'**_

_**'What business is it of mine? He makes her happy, so I am more than willing to accept him. But if he hurts her, I will kill him.'**_

_**'You're getting soft. Kami you're boring now. The old Gaara wouldn't have hesitated to crush that idiot.'**_ Shukaku sighed in exasperation, his presence fading to the back of Gaara's mind.

* * *

><p>"No! This can't be possible! All of this work, for nothing?" Orochimaru quickly learned about the death of his two underlings and the incapacitated Jirobo, and was not taking it well.<p>

"My Lord, I wouldn't say for nothing."

"How is this not for nothing Kabuto? If someone came to save her, then the old man knows about my plans! They'll be ready for us. With only Kidomaru, how the hell is the four seal barrier supposed to be formed?"

"My Lord, why not kill Jirobo and reanimate all of them? Surely the Edo Tensei has been perfected."

"To do that, I would need three sacrifices. Plus the four I plan to use in my fight with Sarutobi." but Orochimaru knew his secret technique needed an obscene amount of chakra, especially to reanimate who he had in mind. The chakra he would be able to spare for the technique only gave him a day to keep it going once activated.

"Kidomaru and I can easily get that many. It'd be child's play."

"If you can do that, it's the only other option I have."

"Yes my Lord. We shall return by morning." and Kabuto left. Orochimaru sat back in his chair and sighed. He had the utmost confidence in Kabuto, he would succeed. He smiled as he began to modify his plans accordingly. No one was yet aware of the fact that he would be among them when the invasion began, and that would give him the edge he needed.

_'Make your preparations Sarutobi. No matter what you do, you'll never be ready for what I have in store for you.'_

* * *

><p>Naruto, Gaara and Shibi stood in front of the Hokage, completely silent. Temari was beside Naruto, but she had her head bowed.<p>

"Hokage-sama, I am truly sorry that my actions have caused you so much trouble. I was brash, and I wasn't thinking like a true kunoichi. I will accept any and all punishments you have." she said, never making eye contact.

"Lady Temari, please look at me." Temari did as she was told and steeled her face.

"I am not angry. I was more worried than anything. You may not be a kunoichi of my village, but Orochimaru was once my student. I know what evils he is capable of. And I am impressed, that you had the guts to try to stand up to him, no matter what your reasons were. So you are not in trouble my dear, relax. But for now, the only thing you need worry about is the exam that will resume next week." Hiruzen said, a smile on his face the entire time. Temari was shocked. She expected some kind of punishment, an interrogation even. He was either too trusting, or the best kage she'd ever met (her mind swayed toward the latter). She bowed again.

"Thank you Hokage-sama."

"Now, Naruto, Gaara. I will leave her in your hands. Go and rest, for you will need it if you are to make up for lost training time."

"Oh man! I completely forgot about that!" Naruto nearly shrieked, grabbing Temari and Gaara and dashing out of the office.

"Do not worry Hokage-sama, I will keep my kikaichu on her."

"Do what you feel you must Shibi. But I doubt it will be needed. Naruto will make sure she is safe, if her brother cannot. But I must ask you, get your son and bring him here. I have a special mission for the both of you."

"Of course, Hokage-sama." and Shibi disappeared. Hiruzen turned his chair around to face his window, and looked out on his village.

_'Orochimaru, when will you give up? What are you after? Your ambition, to learn every jutsu, what does this village hold that you desire? No, it can't be.'_ Sarutobi paled, then called for his secretary to bring Kakashi, Asuma, Kurenai and Guy to him.

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><p>Temari found herself in that familiar land of flames again, the green tendrils trying to lick at her feet. Trying to suck her back into the threshold of darkness.<p>

_**'Meian, I don't think I want to exact revenge anymore. I have to be able to protect Gaara. So I need to stay close to him, and try to salvage the wreckage of our fucked up family.'**_

_**'How tragic. Look, I don't care what the hell you do. Just as long as you survive long enough for me to kill your father.'**_

_**'Don't you worry Meian. I will survive. And you want to know why? I've made two vows for myself. One, to protect Gaara at any and all costs. And two, to erase the darkness in your heart.'**_ she declared. Meian's eyes widened and the flames increased in intensity for a split second. Then he laughed.

_**'You think you can do such a thing? Give up, few have tried and all have failed. I hold much more hate than you know, and your father is only a small fraction of it.'**_

_**'I won't give up Meian. Don't you worry big guy.'**_ Temari nearly laughed.

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><p>It was around midnight, and a certain Uchiha was fast asleep. There was a loud knock at the door and his onyx eyes shot open.<p>

_'Damn, just who could it be this late at night?'_ he snarled, making his way to the door. There was another knock, and it sounded more concerned. The Uchiha smoothed his hair back and tried his best not to look half dead as he opened the door to find four individuals whom he knew quite well. They all exhaled.

"Thank Kami you're fine."

"Kakashi, what's the meaning of this?" Sasuke demanded, not moving.

"May we come in? It's very important. It's got to do with your... situation." Kakashi whispered. Sasuke's eyes widened and he stepped aside to let the jonin into his home.

"Don't expect me to play host. I'm not fixing anyone anything. Now talk." Sasuke said, plopping down on his sofa.

"Orochimaru, he's coming back."

"That bastard! How dare he show his face again?"

"We have every reason to believe his target, well at least one of his targets, is you, since you possess the Sharingan. We are simply here to keep watch over you. From now on, you shall be with a jonin level shinobi or higher at all times. We cannot allow you to fall into their hands."

"Hah, like I'd be stupid enough to go. Why would I let him take me anyways? To gain this power he spoke of? I don't need anyone to get stronger. I'm doing fine, although a stronger technique wouldn't hurt."

"Oh, I'll teach you some. Right after the prelims are over." Kakashi said, wondering if Sasuke was lying in anyway. When he discerned he wasn't, he stood. "Well then, guess that's all. We'll be here until further notice, but it'll be like we aren't even here." Kakashi said, and the four teachers disappeared, not giving Sasuke a chance to argue.

_'Stupid jonin.'_

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><p>Yes! Another one out of the way. Honestly, I'm really glad this is over with now. Time to focus on the main storyline now. Please review, the little button down there will not bite. I promise. And I apologize if the fight scenes aren't to your liking. Frankly, I don't consider myself to be the best at them, so any tips would be greatly appreciated. Be looking forward to the resume of the exams, because they're coming. And I may switch up the matches, to make it more unpredictable. Should I? Let me know.<p> 


	10. The Exams Continue!

Hey, I'm not dead! *Gasp!* Just extreme writer's block. I could not decide who should fight who, and the fights are a bit complicated. But I have the matches decided, and the first fight is done. Now, there are hints of another pairing with one guy and one of two girls, tell me who you think the guy should end up with, and the most responses will win. Oh, and so you know, be prepared to have these fight chapters be shorter than the others.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, blah blah blah. Masashi Kishimoto does, blah blah blah. This is for entertainment purposes only, and now, to the chapter!

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><p>Chapter 10: The Exams Continue!<p>

It was a nice cool morning on the day the exams resumed. The group of 18 genin stood in front of a large stadium, waiting for their proctor to arrive. Gaara and Temari stood on either side of Naruto, getting more impatient by the minute, as was everyone else.

"Where the hell is Hayate? You'd think Kakashi was the proctor." Everyone could hear Naruto's complaint and couldn't help but smile, even in the midst of these shinobi who would be their enemies in just a short matter of time (there were few who knew of Kakashi's infamous tardiness). Naruto noticed Temari's irritation as well and reached over to her, pulling her into a hug.

"You okay?"

"For the thousandth time Naru-kun, I'm fine." Temari whispered. Naruto pulled her down for a short kiss, making her blush slightly, and making him chuckle.

After what seemed like hours had passed, a fit of coughing behind them alerted them to the arrival of Hayate.

"I apologize for being so late. I had to go visit the doctor and-"

"Look. We don't give a damn where you were. Just get these exams started." one of the other ninja growled. Temari looked at him and noticed he was one of the sound genin. He had short, unruly black hair and some kind of holes in both of his hands, and one of his arms was supported in a sling. Perhaps he also manipulated wind. Oh yeah, Temari would keep a close eye on that one. Hayate made no reply to that comment, he only coughed and moved to unlock the door, held closed by a blood seal. He bit his finger and dragged it down the seal, said seal dissolving as it recognized the blood. He pushed the creaky doors open and coughed.

"Well, come on in. As you all know, the attack in the forest of death caused us to delay the preliminary exams. We have, of course, decided not to go through the forest of death again, so the prelims will be held here, the stadium where the third exam is normally held." Hayate led them in and they lined up, nine in front, nine in back and waited for Hayate to get started.

"Jeez Hayate, kept me waiting for two hours. Ibiki would've had your head. Lucky I'm the nice one." The leaf genin sweatdropped at that. Anko, the nice one? "Hey kiddies, so there are 18 of you left? Alright, let's see if we can knock that down to nine." everyone looked up to see Anko standing beside a large computer screen. "The prelims will consist of nine one on one matches. Whoever wins will advance to the third exam. You keep fighting until one cannot continue, and try not to kill each other. You brats can be pretty damn violent. And pay attention to Hayate. If he decides that a fight should stop, and fighting continues, those who have continued fighting will be immediately disqualified. Got it? Alright, let's get it started!" Anko cheered, hoping to get some kind of reaction. All she found was indifference in everyone's faces. Maybe they were nervous about whom they'd have to fight, or perhaps they were just tired of waiting. Couldn't blame them. She sighed and pressed a button. The computer screen spun through the names for a few seconds before it came to stop.

"Alright! The first match is... Sasuke Uchiha vs. Tenten! You two, stay down there. The rest leave the stage and come up to the upper level." Anko commanded.

"Good luck duckass." Naruto said, patting his teammate on the back.

"Like I need it Baka. I'll be done before you know it." Sasuke smirked. Naruto chuckled and left, wanting to wait with the sand siblings.

"Sasuke, good luck." Sakura timidly said. She hadn't said much at all to him lately, and the absence of the suffix surprised him greatly.

"Yeah. Thanks, Sakura." he said, still wondering what could've happened. She looked up and gave him a smile before leaving the stadium.

"Tenten, just because he is an Uchiha doesn't mean he's better. Show him the true power of your youth!" Lee proclaimed. Tenten laughed and turned to Neji.

"I think it would be best to give up. I doubt you can defeat someone like him." he said. Tenten sighed. Neji was always so blunt.

"I figured you'd say something like that. But I gotta try, right?"

"Yeah! Go forth and show him that the Sharingan is no match for you!" Lee yelled. Tenten turned away from them to face Sasuke, and they left. Hayate walked up to the two and coughed before starting.

"Alright, you both heard the rules. Simply fight until one, or both, cannot continue. If you do not listen to me, you will be disqualified. That is all. If neither of you have any questions..." Hayate paused to give them time to think. "Alright. Begin!" Hayate quickly got out of the way as Tenten jumped back, analyzing her opponent.

'Not good. He has that Sharingan, I'm at a serious disadvantage. But still...' Tenten pulled out three rods, each about two inches long, from her weapon pouch and fit them together. She fed her chakra through it and the staff extended to be about her height. She also pulled a leather holster out and secured it around her body. Sasuke smirked and dipped down into a basic fighting stance. Was he underestimating her?

"Just because I don't have some cool blood limit or flashy ninjutsu doesn't mean you should underestimate me." Tenten growled. Sasuke looked at her with a slightly confused face.

"Who ever said anything about underestimating you?"

"Please. It's like you're trying to humiliate me. Using basic academy defense stances."

"Hmm? Look closer. This isn't an academy stance." Sasuke said, and Tenten could see it. It looked as if he had taken the forward stance, but where his left leg was supposed to be bent and about 18 inches ahead of his right foot, Sasuke had only the toes of his left foot touching the ground. And where his right leg was supposed to be outstretched and firmly planted on the ground behind him, Sasuke's right leg was slightly bent and he chose to rest on his toes again. It was not basic, and Tenten felt stupid for not realizing that.

"What kind of stance is that? I've never seen it before."

"Just something I came up with. This stance focuses completely on speed. I only rest on my toes to increase reaction time. I know how skilled you can be with those weapons, and I'm not a guy who underestimates his opponents. But the time for talk is over. Get ready." Sasuke warned, the Sharingan flaring to life. But the flare started an inferno in his head and Sasuke found it hard to even use his kekkei genkai.

_'Damn that snake. This curse mark is seriously interfering in my life.'_ Sasuke snarled, shaking off the pain.

_**'Curse mark. Hate that damn power.'**_

_**'Isn't that the power that the Sound Four and Sakon possess, Meian?'**_

_**'Yes, it is. The fact that someone as potentially powerful as that brat shows that Orochimaru is most likely trying to use Sasuke to increase his own lifespan with his Immortality Jutsu.'**_

_**'I see... So Orochimaru is after Sasuke's body? We should stop him.'**_

_**'Fine, I'd love to see the bastard get frustrated.'**_ Meian said, fading away.

Tenten noticed Sasuke's moment of weakness, and took the opening. She grabbed two kunai and threw them with expert aim. However, Sasuke regained his bearings and dodged both potentially fatal strikes.

"Damn he's fast." Tenten mumbled. She grabbed a small ball and threw it down in front of her. Smoke covered the battlefield and she disappeared from view.

_'Great. Where the hell did she go?'_ Sasuke nearly sighed, closing his eyes and focusing. If he couldn't use Sharingan, he'd use everything else he was taught. It was completely quiet and Sasuke was beginning to grow impatient, when he heard a single object sailing through the air. No, it was more than one. It was two. He ran toward the sound and jumped, grabbing the now-identified kunai and noticed they had explosive tags on them.

_'Fool.'_ Sasuke threw them back in the direction they came from and landed as two small explosions rocked the earth. The force blew the smoke away and everyone could see Tenten being blown toward the wall. She flipped in midair and landed on the wall, focusing chakra to her feet so that she stayed. Sasuke stood, waiting for her next move and was not disappointed when she launched herself toward him. He did the same, and both were hurtling toward each other at an alarming speed. Tenten gripped her staff and Sasuke quickly grabbed a kunai. They passed each other, the sound of metal against metal the only sound being made in the arena. They landed and ran to each other, clashing their weapons over and over again.

_'This is getting us nowhere.'_ both thought, seemingly at the same time seeing as they both jumped back. Tenten put her staff into its holster, grabbed a scroll and jumped into the air, unraveling it as she did so. She twirled the scroll so that it spun around her, and she began summoning weapons from several parts of it. All of which found a course toward Sasuke.

_'I expected nothing less from Konoha's weapon specialist. However...'_ Sasuke wove a few handsigns and made an "O" with his thumb and index finger in front of his mouth

"Fire style: fireball jutsu!" Sasuke yelled. The ball of flame erupted from the Uchiha, and slowed the weapons down to where they harmlessly fell at his feet.

"Give up Tenten. You can't win against me." Sasuke said.

"No. I'm not giving up Uchiha, so you can stop going easy on me." she spat, dropping into a defensive stance.

"Heh, you don't know what you're asking for." Sasuke said, taking his stance again. He disappeared and Tenten looked around to see where he could be, but there was no sign of the Uchiha anywhere. Had his speed risen that much?

"Tenten!" Lee yelled, and Tenten saw it. Numerous, circular shadows were around her, and they were getting smaller. She looked up and saw the balls of fire speeding toward her, and she realized she wouldn't have anywhere to run. She saw Sasuke, high in the air and falling, and smirked.

"Very good Uchiha. But not quite!"

Tenten grabbed her staff and spun it with all of her might. "Wind style: gust!" she cried. The fireballs began to slow down as they neared the ground, until they completely vanished. The staff stopped and Tenten disassembled it, putting it up. Sasuke landed on the ground and stood, amused.

"Didn't know you had a wind chakra affinity, Tenten."

"There's a lot you don't know about me. It's time to wrap this up." Tenten declared, pulling two scrolls from her pouch. She knelt on one knee and placed the scrolls vertically on either side of her. She wove three handsigns and crossed her arms, like her right hand was reaching toward the left scroll, and the left hand was reaching toward the right scroll. "Get ready. Rising Twin Dragons!" and a huge cloud of smoke covered the arena, forcing Sasuke to shield his eyes. From the top of the cloud two dragon shaped clouds rose and swirled around each other. The smoke began to clear and revealed it was just the two scrolls. Tenten disappeared and reappeared in the center of the scroll's peak and bit both thumbs. She swiped them over several seals and began her barrage of weapons on Sasuke.

The number of weapons was too many for anyone to count, and they all had one target: Sasuke. He figured that and prepared for his most powerful attack. He wove a few handsigns and took a deep breath.

"Fire style: Dragon Flame Jutsu!" a torrent of flame erupted from Sasuke's mouth and found a course toward the weapons coming for its master.

Sasuke watched as the fire stopped the weapons dead in their tracks, and caught a glint of something. It was connected to Tenten's hand and the weapons, whatever it was. Realization dawned on Sasuke and he closed his mouth. The fire made contact with the weapons and the wire attached to them, and began to spread toward Tenten at an alarming rate. Sasuke moved faster than anyone could see, taking a kunai, jumping toward Tenten and cutting all the wire connected to her hands. The fire reached the end of the wire and harmlessly burned out. Tenten was momentarily shocked, but regained her senses and reached for a kunai. But Sasuke flipped and kicked Tenten in the stomach before she even had a grip on the cold metal, sending her crashing into the ground, knocked out. He landed and looked at Hayate.

"Um... The winner of the first match is Sasuke Uchiha." Hayate declared as a medical team rushed to carry her away. Lee jumped down and glared at the Uchiha, deciding whether or not to attack.

"Tenten fought well. Tell her not to beat herself up. A hint of advice for her: tell her that I said to never use that technique against a shinobi with a fire attribute again. And a hint of advice for you: don't look at me like that unless you plan on doing something." he said, disappearing. Lee growled and went to rejoin Neji.

"Lee, don't be so angry. It was her destiny to lose to Sasuke, and she knew it. She's merely paying the price for challenging the decision."

"Neji, how can you say that? She's our teammate."

"..."

"Nice job Sasuke. For a second I thought she had you with that last technique." Naruto laughed.

"She is skilled, but there was no way I'd lose to her, idiot." Sasuke scoffed.

"You did well Sasuke." Sakura said. Sasuke looked at her and she averted her eyes. Just what caused this change?

"Thanks Sakura. Are you okay?"

"Y-yeah, I'm fine."

The silence was shattered by Anko a few seconds later.

"Alright kids! Next match is... Shino Aburame vs..."

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><p>Review, and the next chapter will be out before you know it. An internet cookie to whoever can guess who Shino will fight :)<p>

And sorry if my fight scenes aren't good, any suggestions to help me improve them? I don't want to unnecessarily drag them out, but I don't want them to be too short either.


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